Week One | Post Digital Body.

Deuze (2011: 137) asserts, the spread of media, particularly digital media, into most avenues everyday life is so extensive, that we should not talk about living 'with media' but rather 'living a media life.' (138)

When talking about this quote I cannot help but apply to everyday life. As a child who grew up in technology, I have never known life without it. However, it has evolved to the point where we look to our devices instead of our physicality.

Within the 21st Century, our relationships with our device have evolved. Take for instance back into the early 2000's teenagers as old as 16 were getting what we call 'brick phones' which had a single purpose two if you were lucky, calling or playing snake. However, now children as young as 10 years of age have iPhones, these devices hold our entire lives in them, through pictures and videos, but the advancements lye in the applications made available to us. Take for instance how we can document each piece of lives for any in the world to see, how celebrities use it to connect with their fans. Or how ordinary people can go viral and become famous through apps such as SnapChat, Instagram, and Twitter. It's as if we have stepped into a media reality, we have to keep people updated with our lives or else we are no longer relevant. This was evident in our first social media president Barack Obama. Since then other presidential candidates have followed suit, simply because they know that if you have no social media presence you’d no longer exist. Posing the question to all if you didn't post it did it really happen?

Luton (2017) 'personal data that is collected using self-tracking devices - photographs, video messages, interactions on social media, calendar entries, geolocation information, bodily functions, and activities – become a biographical repository of significance and meaning to the user.’

During our presentation, I used the example of how we as media students feel the need to brand ourselves online. Simply because our social media is how people around the world actually see us and make connections. Websites such as LinkedIn founded in 2002 made connections with people trying to get into the professional industry however now like I said social networks have become a marketplace for jobs for potential employers. Instead of asking for a character reference and employer will most likely scroll through their timeline to get a sense of who you are.

For our video, we decided to use a recently developed concept named the ‘Instagram Baddies.’ These are women who are made famous via Instagram for being beautiful and spreading trends. Their whole lives are put on the internet for the world to see. Not just through Instagram, an update on SnapChat allowed people to see your graphical locations, videos allow their activities and daily motives to be documented and even stored. All to create the fully realised social presence of a human being.

Our technological devices have taken over the role of our bodies and emulsify them. We are now who we are when that information is placed on our phones.