Akin to the iconic Dorian Grey, we too have the ability to contort our reality; to hide beneath a fabricated facade in order to achieve everlasting life. While preserving our digital souls, SNS contort the truth. Weak connections can pass for elevated social status, inferred knowledge of those remotely connected to us connote a false popularity and validation that requires individuals to uphold the performance of their selected identities. As Donath and boyd discussed, one thread of truth can be weaved into a convincingly deceptive online network. Through todays sundry of social networking sites (SNS) you are granted this everlasting life. However, interconnected social networks often remove beneficial barriers between divergent aspects of ones life.
As Elmo Keep exemplifies, eternal life may not be what you had in mind when these prior divided worlds meet. Through death, wether it be old age or a symbolic social suicide, you will leave behind open doors to a past life through your social networks. Private emails, public profiles and personal digital affects are left behind in the glass bedroom, preserving life in static, pristine condition for all to see. This exemplar of self preservation in its finest, leads to the question of just who is looking at it? An idea touched upon by Pearson. Just as Dorian found out, trying to contain to divergent parts of a personality, wether physical or virtual can lead to a tragic undoing.
References
Donath, J. and boyd, d. (2004). Public displays of connection. BT Technology Journal , volume 22 (4): 71-82.
Pearson, E. (2009). All the World Wide Web's a stage: the Performance of Identity in Online Social Networks.First Monday, volume 14, Number 3.
Keep, E. (2010) Everlasting Digital Life.
http://hungrybeast.abc.net.au/stories/everlasting-digital-life. (accessed March 26, 2010).
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