Commentary Two: Connection and Disconnection.

Sarah Giles
Sep 7, 2018 · 3 min read

McLuhan refers to a “medium” as ‘an extension of ourselves’ (1964 p. 1). For example, turning on a light extends our field of vision, making a phone call extends our voice. Therefore, it stands to reason that our presence on the internet is an extension of us as we are. So when the issue of authenticity online is raised, what are we to make of it?

This question came to me while reading Nathan Jurgenson’s essay ‘The Disconnectionists’ (2013). Jurgenson deconstructs a common issue that surrounds social media use: performativity and authentic self. The essay aligns long standing philosophical debates about authenticity of self and performativity of self, debates that were around long before the internet. Invoking theorists like Judith Butler (1990) and Michel Foucault (1990) to support his position, Jurgenson suggests that there is nothing special about online performativity of self that makes it less authentic than offline performativity of self. The article concludes that, in this context at least, our engagement with social media and the internet isn’t necessarily less authentic.

A study of authenticities cultivated by social media influencers revealed that putting thought into the kind of content you post online can boost self-esteem (Audrezet et al. 2018). The paper writes: ‘psychology research finds that when individuals’ behaviours align with their true selves, they experience greater self-esteem and life satisfaction (Goldman & Kernis, 2002)’ (Audrezet et al. 2018 p. 9). This indicates that the more honestly, or “authentically”, you portray yourself online the happier you are.

Here on Medium, writer Bo Ren suggests that it isn’t our online and offline personas that create a problem for authenticity but our “shallow” engagement with the world (2015). Ren writes: ‘a single “like” or “favourite” may be a tradeoff for deep lasting connection’(2015) — implying that we put too much stock in “likes”, “favourites” and “follows” over actual engagement with other people/places/content both online and off. When thinking about Taffel’s definition of media ecology, ‘the study of patterns of interconnection, interaction, and transferences of energy between agents involved in complex networks featuring living and non-living nodes’ (2013), it could be suggested that we’re losing sight of the human intention behind the “likes” and “favourites”. A person saw your post and wanted to let you know that they liked it.

While Jurgenson (2013) seems to believe performativity online is no different to offline, and Ren (2015) writes that it’s not our online personas but our shallow interactions that are the issue — it seems if we’re more mindful about the content we cultivate on our social media accounts we might be able to stay accountable to our ‘true selves’ (Audrezet et al. 2018 p. 9).

References

Audrezet, A, de Kerviler, G & Moulard, J. G 2018, ‘Authenticity under threat: When social media influencers need to go beyond self-representation’, Journal of Business Research, viewed on 22 August 2018 < https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0148296318303229>

Butler, J 1990, Gender Trouble, Routledge, New York

Foucault, M 1990, The History of Sexuality, vol. 1, Random House, New York

Goldman, B. M & Kernis, M. H 2002, ‘The role of authenticity in healthy psychological functioning and subjective well-being’, Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association, vol 5. №6, pp. 18–20 (cited by Audrezet, A et al. 2018)

Jurgenson, N 2013, ‘The Disconnectionists’, The New Inquiry, 13 November, viewed on 22 August 2018 <https://thenewinquiry.com/the-disconnectionists/>

McLuhan, M 1964, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, MIT Press, Cambridge

Ren, B 2015, ‘From the Digital to Analog: a Study of Authenticity on the Web’, Medium, 4 February, viewed on 22 August 2018 <https://medium.com/@Bosefina/authenticity-on-the-web-online-friends-to-irl-friends-7b6a72dfef8>

Taffel, S 2013, ‘Scalar entanglement in digital media ecologies’, NECSUS European Journal of Media Studies, Spring Issue

Wood, A. M, Linley, P. A, Maltby, J, Baliousis, M & Joseph, S 2008, ‘The authentic personality: A theoretical and empirical conceptualisation, and the development of the authenticity scale’, Journal of Counselling Psychology, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 385­ — 399 (cited by Audrezet, A et al. 2018)