7. Surf it - The Internet

7.    

Surf it – The Internet

The claim made by Marshall (2004) that the internet has blurred the boundary between public and private is evidently true. Online a person has complete control over what information they divulge to the public and because a user has anonymity it is easier to reveal the private details of one’s life to strangers and the public. Intimate details, secrets, confessions are freely conveyed in interactions that one would never divulge in a face to face conversation. Handing out these intimate details is often seen as being liberating – much like doing something naughty and getting away with it. It is exactly like this because we are taught etiquette from an early age and thus, divulging private information feels like one is being daring and breaking the rules.  The computer screen is a mask worn and each user enters into the cyberworld and has the choice about how much of one’s true self is revealed and how much of the person behind the mask is seen.

The internet is a subjective place and the domestic setting of home is a key place where people log on. In 2006 there were over 100 000 websites and instant message programs like ICQ and MSN is a popular tool of the internet. Like any other media form, advertising and commercialism runs the internet and often advertisements are targeted and customised specifically to each internet user by the use of cookies; this furthers the feeling of personal. It is then of no surprise that the public sphere of the internet, that is filled with strangers partaking in public discourse, is blurred with the private sphere of the individual in which the individuals thoughts, feelings, tastes, beliefs, ideologies and identity is on display for the world. Uncensored, free speech and open dialogue is encouraged, just as it was in the 19^th century salons and coffee houses however public sphere back then was largely based around politics. Like the salons and coffee houses, the internet is a free environment which non-obtrusive and uninhibited where people can discuss issues and receive public opinion away from authority. Whilst this does happen on the internet, it is not and I doubt it ever will be the main focus of the internet.

The internet makes it easy for someone to become popular and famous in their own right, as David mentioned in his lecture on internet celebrities. The internet had become the form of documentary where anyone can post anything such as youtube Unlike television and films someone can become a star overnight and because the internet is accessed by such a vast amount of people it does not take long before links are fwd onto friends and family and the website hits become large. Like movie stars who are paid with large amounts of money according to their status, the currency of popularity on the internet is website hits.

Marshall (2004) sums it up best with the words “Via the internet, the everydayness of personal and intimate images that are perpetually accessible has transformed the cultural discourse of what is public and what is private, who is the performer and who is the audience.” (P. 55).