Harper Lee once wrote, “You never really know a man until you understand things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” With the advent of Internet-ready everything, this has never been easier to do. But, nowadays, it’s also easy to make the mistake of crawling into someone’s artificial skin. That is, we forget that this digital realm is a fictitious one–it’s not real!
Perhaps the most prominent institution, certainly the most popular, that has facilitated computer-oriented vicarious living is Facebook. Some people put everything on Facebook–every little detail of their mostly boring lives. Others are very careful with the information they share, omitting certain information that can be considered ‘dangerous’. Still others just haven’t figured this whole Internet thing out, posting endless new-age versions of chain mail claiming that some kid with a disease won’t be saved unless a sufficient number of likes were clicked.
I guess we’re all kind of doing the same things in our seemingly-nuanced ways. But, the reality is that we’re more alike than any of us would dare to admit. We’ll hide behind pieces of glass pretending the real world exists in a realm that none of us can ever actually touch, though. Cat memes, fight videos, terrorist attacks, politician infidelity, celebrity gossip, trivial trends–these have become our daily routine. A digital identity shrouded in superficiality and falsehood.
The Fifth Dimension 