We're Calling Real To What is Imaginary

Cirucci, A. M. (2013). First person paparazzi: Why social media should be studied more like video games. Telematics and Informatics, 30(1), 47-59. doi:10.1016/j.tele.2012.03.006

 Link: First person paparazzi

In this article the author compare social media and video games; similarities between video games and social media. When we created a Facebook, Twitter account, or a blog, we were asked to make a profile, filling out questions as age, race, gender, name, and could be fake or real. As well in video games we create our own profile, in which we could be whoever we want, but we usually identify with our online profile, because is a mirror of our identity, but the one we want everyone to know. The goal of Facebook and others social networks is to be someone, gain popularity with our friends and family, through social media we act like our own paparazzi. On the other hand the goal of video games is to become the hero, and a hero is always popular. So both are base in the same context, but the problem is that we’re losing the sense of identity and reality. Often people built their own identity to fulfil their real one, sometimes they are not satisfied with whom they are, because of stenotypes. The other problem is that we call “real” to what is “imaginary”, because we prefer the unreal world, and the imaginative profile based on stereotypes than the real one. This affects our offline identity, we’d start acting base on our online profile and how people expect us to act. It’s necessary to accept who we are, and start living the real world.