Narcissism

I came across this post by Randy Zuckerberg (via Valleywag) on her (or “our” since she’s speaking for The Daily Beast) dislike of lip-dubs.  How perfect for follow up to my post on lipdubs in mainstream media.  She says:

In case there was any doubt that the chief purpose of the internet is to perpetuate narcissism, lip dub videos put that to rest.

Hmm, really?  I’m not so sure we’re all narcissists on the web – but I guess people write about what they know.  Truth: the first time someone sent me a Julia Allison lip dub it was with a note that said, “Wouldn’t this be fun to do some weekend?”.  I watched the vid, and thought, this goofy, photogenic chick looks like she’s having a lot of fun.  (I’ve added it here, because you’re probably too cool to go search for it *wink wink*):

Lip Dub! Disney’s Little Mermaid from Julia Allison on Vimeo.

Other than the echo-chamber of internet celebs and their requisite snarky haters, few people give a damn about all the context/scandal/fifty-thousand blog posts/page rank yadda yadda yadda – they’re just looking for a fun and entertaining three minutes and thirty seconds.  At least that’s what I’m interested in.

Aside from Zuckerberg’s self-condemnation (as Valleywag points out she’s been in lip dubs as well) and bashing of coworkers and friends (ah, harkens of Paris Hilton – burn those bridges!), she’s got the chief purpose of the internet all wrong.  All this media – our pictures, video, tweets, comments, status updates, posted items on Facebook and elsewhere are tied much more deeply to the chief purpose of the internet than mere narcissism.  The internet is about scalable information sharing, and all the little pieces of information we put out there about ourselves paints a picture of who we are that we share with our networks of friends and family.

Who Are the Content Creators?

I don’t know many people who are that into creating content on the internet for its own sake.  Sure, there are media personalities making videos to further promote themselves and there are Twitter-addicts who are sharing every mundane (to me, anyway) detail of their lives with the whole world.  Even these people are telling stories.  I think there is a very core human need to tell stories, and I certainly feel a strong desire to be known by the world through the day-to-day things I do. The reason for this is that I want to offer some continuity. I want the little details to be captured, because they matter to me. It seems like there’s something beautiful, strange, or otherwise remarkable that I want to remember and share at least once a day.

What Happens When I Die?

What happens?  When I die in 90 years (fingers crossed!) all the content I’ve contributed will be out there in the world.  If people want to remember me, they can.  It seems like there might be a business in collecting all that up into a lasting memory place… but death doesn’t sell well… and I digress.

Beware Revisionist History

People are storytellers.  Like all stories, the teller can try to shape the truth into a form that is closer to the image we WISH was true.  As someone put to me succinctly, “life gets messy”, and often we can make it look neat and tidy with the right editing, the right context.  There are valid reasons for romanticizing a story appropriately – such as sharing pictures on Facebook like “first week with baby” pictures that don’t show the exhausted parents or “Sarah’s bachelorette party” that doesn’t include the photos of her sh*tfaced friends flashing the camera in the limmo.  Then there is outright faking a life you don’t even lead – thinking LonelyGirl15 here – for the sake of attention, without telling the world that what you’re offering is fictional.

Favorite Lip Dub, Lately

LipDub – Undone – Weezer (in Paris) from Chryde on Vimeo.