Face to Face, No Matter the Place

The next best thing, except better.

Early chatrooms were very lowtech and offered little to nothing in the way of expression beyond the text itself. ‘Netiquette ‘ introduced new slang and emoticons in order become more personal and expressive; basically substitutes for face to face contact.

But with new services like BlogTV and Stickam, it is possible to have ‘face to face’ conversations with multiple people. Communications researcher Jonathan Cummings writes that online relationships are of a lesser value than offline relationships, and should only act as a substitute.

While I can appreciate that in 2002 this statement may have been closer to the truth, today more sophisticated software, cameras, and data streaming capabilities allow for a nearly flawless conversation. I can speak from personal experience that I have built a few good friendships with people I have never met in person, but that I see on a regular basis. While I cannot speak for the entire online community, it would seem that most research has become dated.

Cam4: the New Sex

It is not exactly a secret that pornography and cybersex account for a fairly large portion of internet use. New media has made sexuality a virtually non-issue while also helping to innovate sexuality and pornography in often disturbing ways.  However, not every facet of online sexuality has led to perversion – though an open mind is needed.

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Cam4 is a social networking networking site dedicated to live and pre-recorded video broadcasting. For various reasons including a somewhat more lax set of rules than most other networking sites, Cam4 became dedicated almost exclusively to sex shows. As long as it is not an illegal act, anything goes.

Many view this practice as perverse or desperate, but it can have many positive aspects, as well.  Recent statistics say that 1 in 5 Americans currently have a Sexually Transmitted Disease. Cam4 provides a way for adults to explore their sexuality and participate in exhibitionism without endangering themselves.

Media researcher Nichola Doring also suggests that online sex shows can be very empowering to people who are unconfident and have body issues.

Under the right circumstances, the internet may actually be the safest and best place to explore one’s sexuality, as long as proper sexual education and caution is exercised.

Also, stay away from 4chan…

Instant Fame, Instant Shame

If I move my hand, it might undo the divorce.

A recent survey by the USA Today found that 51% of high school students desired fame more than anything else. This is the first time in history that the desire for fame has superceded the desire for material goods and security. This can partially be explained by the fact that, thanks to websites like Youtube, it is easier than ever before to become famous.

Another trend that coincides eerily with the growing desire for celebrity is the growth in the number of dysfunctional families, which has also recently hit the 50% mark in the United States.

Sociologist Benedict Carey says that where you find people desperate for fame, you find people from broken homes. These young people feel the need to be loved. Unfortunately, love is confused with attention, since they are usually neglected.

This attention craving has lead to the recent trend of ‘camwhores.’ It is no surprise that the easiest way to get attention online (especially for young women) is through nudity. This attention is a hollow replacement for the attention they never recieved at home. Confusion combined with new technologies can lead to negative effects.

…especially with a room full of anonymous jerks yelling the online idiom, “Tits of GTFO”

Mass Media Sticks to Stickam

With the exception of the music industry, which is adapting nicely, no form of Mass Media has been more apprehensive of New Media than television.  As a response to the potential threat the internet can pose, many television shows have begun to incorporate more and more new media content. Entire networks such as G4TV are dedicated to new technology; whether it be featured internet content, video games, or simply new gadgets. No show demonstrates this merger better than G4′s Attack of the Show.

AOTS is a program dedicated almost solely to bringing internet entertainment and news to the small screen. The show typically opens with a segment called ‘Around the Net’ in which the top 5 funniest new videos on the internet are shared. There are segments dedicated to the newest and best laptops, cellphones, and other web-browsing devices.

The average Stickam user.

The segment that really showcases the marriage of ‘Old and New’ media is Interactive Audience, in which the two main hosts of AOTS engage up to eight members of an online audience. These audience members come from a website called Stickam: a social networking site featuring live video-broadcasting. While most interactions on this website can be best described as monotonous nudity, only the most well spoken and clothed members are allowed to talk on live television with the hosts.

As PBS’s documentary , The Merchants of Cool, states, when an underground culture such as Stickam gains some popularity, big business such as television stations will try to exploit that culture by packaging it for the masses. Unfortunately, this commercializing of culture quickly smothers the ‘cool factor’ and the original members move on to the next movement.

This was proven too true, while many people created accounts on Stickam in order to appear on tv, many ‘hardcore’ users moved on to other websites such as Cam4 in order to avoid commercial interests.

New Masculinity and You!

In this youtube video I attempt to explore and define New Masculinity, a relatively new and misunderstood trend.

Special thanks must given to Lorax1515, who allowed me to use samples from his Banana Eating Contest to show the objectification and sexualization of women.

Bibliography:

Goody, Jack. The Domestication of the Savage Mind. Cambridge University Press, 1977. (p36)

Max, Tucker. http://www.tuckermax.com/archives/entries/tucker_maxs_review_of_the_alphabet_of_manliness.phtml (2005)

Odem, Mary and Warner, Jody. Confronting rape and Sexual Assault. Roman and Littlefield, 1998 (p156)