New Media and Self Identity
Thursday, September 24, 2009 by ltop
This morning a talk show, Rachael Ray, caught my attention. A guest on the show had her own online blog focusing on people's hairstyles. It made me realize we can become whoever we want to on the internet. This lady was not a professional but, through this blog, she helped people find their perfect hairstyle by posting photos of celebrities as examples. People on the blog would vote which celebrity had the best haircut for the blogger, and some got over a 1000 votes. It makes me think, do people actually care about a random person's haircut? And if the answer is yes, then could we not make a similar blog where the topic of conversation was more important than people's hairstyles? I would think that it was the hairdresser's job to tell people what haircut suits them, and not a woman with a blog who has nothing to do with the profession.
Could some random person also start a blog and become a doctor without knowing anything about medicine? Wouldn’t it be dangerous for people to rely on a blog like this?
Nevertheless, I find it interesting how the internet is allowing people to become whoever they want even pursue any career they want. It can even lead to fame for some people. However, this also means the internet is increasingly becoming a substitute for the real thing, and people who actually are educated within a specific field might find themselves without a job. With this, the internet is encouraging more of a "do it yourself" attitude, where one can for example search for how to unclog the drain, and it will give you the answer so that you can do it yourself, instead of having to call a plumber and pay a lot of money to have it done. Does this then mean that more businesses across the world will lose customers for the internet?
Could some random person also start a blog and become a doctor without knowing anything about medicine? Wouldn’t it be dangerous for people to rely on a blog like this?
Nevertheless, I find it interesting how the internet is allowing people to become whoever they want even pursue any career they want. It can even lead to fame for some people. However, this also means the internet is increasingly becoming a substitute for the real thing, and people who actually are educated within a specific field might find themselves without a job. With this, the internet is encouraging more of a "do it yourself" attitude, where one can for example search for how to unclog the drain, and it will give you the answer so that you can do it yourself, instead of having to call a plumber and pay a lot of money to have it done. Does this then mean that more businesses across the world will lose customers for the internet?