In Bourriaud's book called "Relational Aesthetics," he seems to be saying that technology, new media, and the market is replacing social interaction. He gives examples such as ATMs replacing the interaction of going to a bank and issuing a transaction with another individual. Also, back in the day, people used to be woken up by a telephone wake-up call service. Now a synthesized voice known as Siri is our wake-up call, replacing the human voice we once knew.
I want to expand on this idea and make the claim that not only is technology replacing social interaction among individuals... but it is becoming our entire reality. It is so easy to get lost in the Internet when you create a space so personal to you. When you open your browser, you have placed specific tabs underneath the URL bar and these "bookmarks" indicate your most-used websites. That right there is already a personalization (I'm coining that word for my own purposes) of internet space. Furthermore, obvious places like Facebook have become our new social empire. We no longer need to walk to our friend's house in order to talk, we can just send them a Facebook message. Facebook is the place that has all of our "friends" and it is personalized so that we only see news on our newsfeed from people that we interact with the most on Facebook. Talk about a social empire -- this website has really become our new "world" so to speak.
For me personally, Pinterest is my "world." I don't mean that in the sense that I worship the site, but I mean that it really is personalized for my own interests and has become a place where I only see things (posts, pictures...) that I like. The posts on my Pinterest board consist mainly of pictures of street style, fashion, and beautiful places around the world. It has more or less become a vision of a life I hope to attain one day. I'm sure Pinterest is like this for many people that use it often. Even YouTube. I am a huge YouTube person if that is a thing... I am subscribed to 103 people/channels on YouTube. ONE HUNDRED AND THREE. That is 103 people that I have consciously decided that I want to see what they have to say whenever they have to say it. Most of my YouTube subscriptions are to "beauty gurus" aka people who post videos on fashion and beauty. That right there is my environment. I am watching them and hearing what they say, watching their vlogs (them video recording their every day lives for all to see... yes that is a thing). That too has become my social reality. I can even post a comment on the videos and respond to the person. These beauty gurus have really formed relationships with their viewers.
What I am saying is that new media has really taken over the realm of social interaction and has more so become our new social environment where we not only can talk conveniently to others but create a world of our own as opposed to the real world that we live in outside of our computer screens.
In order to simulate this technological reality, I really just want it to be an experience for the audience. I want them to go on Facebook for the duration of my presentation and just immerse themselves in that alter reality. Or go on Pinterest if you have one and scroll through your dashboard and realize how these sites and their content are you. You have chosen what you want to see and who you want to talk to and who you want to see pictures of on your newsfeed, etc.
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