Friday, June 12, 2009

Myspace. Pictures.

Sexuality is a very ambiguous thing. It represents our lust, the flavor of sexual desire we find appealing. We can't always choose them, and I believe they are based more on personality than anything. Personality itself is something shaped by your surroundings, the 'nurture' within the 'nature'.

So, naturally, our sexual desires manifest themselves in ways that affirm both our ego and id. The only one who truly knows these things is the person themself. We can only be so deeply intimate when we're alone.

By isolation, you can free every desire in your mind and body. It's like singing into a hairbrush as a microphone, or just doing something you think is very embarrassing... you only feel comfortable doing it by yourself.

Where the internet comes into this, is digital media. You have that same emotional isolation with a video camera, or a keyboard. You don't have to worry about someone watching, and you can present anything you want. There is no limit line, because there is no one there to take offense to your actions.

It seems to me that this is what makes online dating so appealing. But beyond just the dating sites, the matchmaker scams... it appears everywhere. A girl character in an MMO is almost always, at some point in their playing career, asked if they're really a girl. If you put up the front that you ARE a girl, then you're treated much differently than a guy would be. It's pedantic, I know... but it brings up a point.

When opposite genders meet on a medium that can't be seen through, things get out of hand. It doesn't matter if the guy is some fat-assed, thirteen year old nerd, because it's the words he types that defines who he is. On a site or messenger service with video and pictures, it's not as incognito, but the same trends are prevalent. You can infer a lot from looking at someone's picture, especially in this day and age, when pictures are much more informal.

It's invigorating to not have to take the risks of physical growth. It's easier to display what you want than to have someone deal with your full, head-on personality.

So all these children, who grow up learning that their faults are best to be hidden, that there is no complete vulnerability through a veil. For example, the new thing I saw on MySpace, called "IConfessional". It allows people to confess their "sins", completely anonymously.

Now, I can see how this would be constructive-- but I feel that on a larger scale, it just feeds into the complex detatchment associated with congressing on the internet. It doesn't help that most of the demographic these services apply to and are marketted towards don't really know what it's like to form a long-term physical bond with someone. I know that this is a blanket statement, and I'm not saying everyone has lost this opportunity. I am saying, though, that the meaning of physical contact, physical growth between people has definitely been reduced in significance among society today.

With this shameless display of egoism, it's easy to see that a large effect of this would be censorship degredation. Everything becomes more sexual by the week-- the standard is lowering itself because of this "emotional enlightenment". Underaged kids become camwhores, in a sense, because it's a venue that is free to the individual's use.

People use things in these ways, to liberate themselves, when really they're restricting their way of thinking. When you become addicted to an outlet, your creative soul loses power to the lustral, earthly voice telling you how to justify your isolation.

And believe me, it is isolation. I don't care the argument, or the reason. If any part of you is hidden, you are completely isolated. To form a real bond is to have everything about you accepted.

And, to become an advertiser of your own soul -- marketing what you feel is attractive, you have lost all worth as a person. If you hide pieces of yourself from those you want to be intimate with, you will lose those pieces. These words would have more meaning if the problem wasn't so wide-scale. I don't even think anyone would agree with what I've written, because everyone seems to think this way.

But I'm fucking glad I didn't grow up with a cell phone.

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