Private worlds

I recently got back from watching an early release of the movie "Radiant City".  I've  been haunted by its daring approach and the in-your-face quotes from some absolutely amazing urban design personalities.

One quote struck me as particularly relevant to this area of social media.  I am taking this from memory, so please excuse any errors.  The urban design expert I am attempting to quote was speaking of the shift in North American society towards suburbanism.

"People get in their car from inside their garage, drive 2 hours, enter into the garage at work, go up the mechanical elevator and go into their cubicle potentially without ever interacting with another human being.

The front of the houses are a large garage door and a small doorway. The houses are private to the outside world. They are oriented to face the backyard. The world is re-introduced by piping in cable, satellite, internet, etc.

We are creating private worlds. Disconnecting people from each other, and as a result from community."

Which might help to explain one factor in this explosion of social media tools - a feeling of disconnection.  So we turn to platforms that provide us with new ways to collaborate and potentially connect back with society, and as a result, our humanity.  But without having to change our lifestyle.

In discussions with associates and friends, I've come to contemplate three major forces shaping our social space online and offline.

1. Sense of disconnection to real-world community
   • Psychologist James Hillman wonders who is in the net flat. "I don't know who they are, but, boy, I'm on the phone, car phone, toilet phone, plane phone, my mistress is in Chicago, the other woman I am with is in D.C., my ex-wife is in Phoenix, my mother is in Hawaii, and I have four children living all over the country.  I have faxes coming in day and night, I can plug into all the world's stock prices, commodity exchanges, I am everyone, man - but I don't know who's in 14-B."
2. Fragmenting focus/time
   • Media is fragmenting.  Our time is being divided.  Technology gives us the "ability" to spend minutes on one thing, jump to a chat with an old friend across the globe, read a story, pop over to an email alert, all while "watching" a TV show we just finished downloading.  We yearn for ways to better connect in our available time with those around us.
3. Self Determination
   • Control over our own lives/self.  We are coming to desire, if not demand it.

The third point requires a bit of explanation.  For that I turn to Justin and his podcast interview with Alan Moore which offers a very insightful look into our connection to communities by pinpointing a linked desire to control and determine our identity.

"Human beings are highly social animals and have an innate need to connect, communicate and interact.   [...]  We've always had community. In pre-industrialization we were tied to our communities by geography and tradition [...] And external forces shaped our identity. However, in a post-modern world we have many selves. As you undertake a quest for self-identity, this is described as psychological self-determination.  The ability to exert control over the most important aspects of ones life, especially personal identity."

"This means that these people want to have a direct influence over the things that means the most to them. They want to have participation over the things that mean the most to them.  And so therefore, engagement marketing needs to understand these very important principles."

If you haven't checked out his podcast interviews, I recommend you do so.

We have a world in which more and more of us are left "disconnected" combined with this era in which it is up to each of us to determine our identity.  I recall a much earlier article in which I referenced Danah Boyd's work showing youth using social media tools to play with and even create their identities. 

Now I wonder to what extent all of us "adults" are doing the exact same thing.

Tags: engagement marketing, alan moore, social media trends

¹ Found this quote is the rather bizarre but tantalizing music book by David Toop, "Ocean of Sound", pgs 108-109

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