The World Within the World

After reading the Nayar's Cyberculture introduction, I thought, "Yeah..."

Really, after reading this, I found something interesting. It seems that Nayar may be on to something. He wrote about how we are in a way shifting the weight of importance from our bodily forms to our mental ones. And it seems true. We may spend more time in the virtual world- keeping up with our virtual spaces, making sure they appear cool, fun, interesting,... whatever- to alter the way people think about us, to present our better versions of ourselves, and whatever else, but we are spending MORE time presenting and perfecting our profiles, for instance, and less time paying attention to our physical appearance than ever before. Is the more time we spend in cyberland, the less time we are spending in our own realities?

This may sound like a negative thing, but maybe we are all just coming to an implied executive decision on what's more important now, brain power or physical attractiveness, internet savvy or fashion savvy. If it's true, the mind is starting to take the lead.

Some critics see it backwards. The writers of Wall-E have criticized their version of the new future. In their world, people are happy sitting, sipping, and participating in what seems to be their cartoon version of the cyberworld. These characters are so consumed in consumerist individualization that they forget they are living outside of this cyberworld. Towards the end, however, when Wall-E interferes with a woman's connection, he fears her reaction when in fact, she seems pleased to be aware of her surroundings and expresses happiness and surprise. Oh, critics.

The Cyberculture Link CLICK HERE PLEASE READER :)

Critics fear a disconnect to the real world because we've been spending a lot of time in the virtual world, but something I don't think they see is how it is not a separate world at all. It is a world inside a world, both connected and intertwined. Where people spend time reading newspapers for news, they are scrolling through online articles. Same distraction, but a more convenient medium. If it wasn't for that, how could teachers be fired for posting a picture of them drinking alcohol on a social networking site (bad example), or how is it that most job applications are only accepted online?


So to answer the first question I posed at the beginning, we may be spending a lot more time online, but most of our time is tied into the real world. When presented with a black and white version of this reality and slanted with a critical viewpoint, we leave out all of the causes we fight for, all the convenience, and all the fun.  Thanks for reading!