CTS Seminar Tasks//Hyperreality.

HYPERREALITY//


Write a short analysis (300 words approx) of an aspect of our culture that is in some way Hypperreal. Hypperreality is an awkward and slippery concept. Wikipedia defines it as follows- 


"Hyperreality is used in semiotics and postmodern philosophy to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced post-modern societies. Hyperreality is a way of characterising what our consciousness defines as "real" in a world where the multitude of media can radically shape and filter an original event or experience."


Wikipedia cites the following examples to get you thinking (but please come up with your own!):


- A well manicured garden (nature as hyperreal).
- Any massively promoted versions of historical or present "facts" (e.g. "General Ignorance" from QI, where the questions have seemingly obvious answers, which are actually wrong).
- Professional sports athletes as super, invincible versions of the human beings.
- Many world cities and places which did not evolve as functional places with some basis in reality, as if they were creatio ex nihilo (literally 'creation out of nothing')" Disney World; Dubai; Celebration, Florida; and Las Vegas.
- TV and film in general (especially "reality" TV), due to it's creation of a world of fantasy and it's dependance that the viewer will engage with these fantasy worlds. The current trend is to glamorise the mundane with using histrionics.
- A retail store that looks completely stocked and perfect due to facing, creating a world of endless identical products. 
- A life which cannot be (e.g. the perfect facsimile of celebrity's invented persona).
- A high end sex doll used as a simulacrum of an unattainable partner.
- A newly made building or item designed to look old, or to recreate or reproduce an older artefact, by stimulating the feel of age or ageing.
- Second Life- The distinction becomes blurred when it becomes the platform for RL (Real Life) courses and conferences, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or leads to real world interactions behind the scenes.
- Weak virtual reality which is greater than any possible simulation of physical reality.


HYPERREALITY ESSAY TASK//


Student Mark Zuckerberg founded the social networking site, Facebook, in February 2004. Although originally restricted to his fellow Harvard Students, the site grew nationally, and, soon after- globally- now reaching an estimated audience of 845 million users worldwide- over 1/10th of the World's total population.


Originally created as a fun, interactive tool for keeping in touch with friends and family, in more recent years, Facebook has had an association with behavioural traits such as online bullying, narcissism, and depression- generated, in part, to the manifestation and belief of mediocrity in ones self, due to the reflected appearance of other's lives and successes as portrayed on the social networking site.


In a recent report from Men's Health Magazine (http://news.menshealth.com/), it describes a recent survey of Facebook users; 


"In a study presented at the recent Society for Personality and Social Psychology meeting, researchers asked a sample group of Facebook users between the ages of 18 and 65 to read some of their friends' status updates. Afterward, those Facebook users rated their lives as much less satisfying than people who didn't check their news feed first".


Social networking sites such as Facebook provide a constant reminder and open window into the lives of others- close friends and acquaintances, as well as "liked" designers, musicians, artists, and so on, often even strangers and people of whom one has never met. With an overall increase in expectation in society for achievement through graduate unemployment and financial crisis, success is sought after and yearned for more than ever, increased with constant "scare- mongering". 


However, despite this natural comparison, it is easy to forget the fundamental control and sense of hyperreality that Facebook constantly provides. Each registered Facebook user has control of their own "wall", the statuses and messages that they send out each day; providing only the wittiest, smartest, crudest, or most successful achievements in their lives, sifting through their own mundane day's events and lack of achievements to masquerade what may also be a relatively mediocre existence.


Postmodernist philosopher and sociologist, Jean Baudrillard (2012, http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1264/Jean_Baudrillard), on the subject of modern living wrote:


“Smile and others will smile back. Smile to show how transparent, how candid you are. Smile if you have nothing to say. Most of all, do not hide the fact you have nothing to say nor your total indifference to others. Let this emptiness, this profound indifference shine out spontaneously in your smile.” 


This statement is a true reflection of modern day social networking, and the sense of hyperreality is creates- the rising of expectation and achievement, as opposed to the reality and mundanity of every day lives. Though this is not what is perceived- and this false reality is easy to be led on by, and to believe in. However, it should be remembered and understood to gauge a real understanding of what is important and real, and what is merely exaggerated fantasy. 




BIBLIOGRAPHY


- Facebook Lowers Your Self-Esteem | Men's Health News, 2012, (ONLINE) Available at: http://news.menshealth.com/facebook-self-esteem/2012/02/12 (Accessed 25 March 2012)


- Jean Baudrillard Quotes (Author of Simulacra and Simulation), 2012, (ONLINE) Available at: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1264.Jean_Baudrillard (Accessed 25 March 2012)