A couple of days ago my boyfriend showed me an episode of South Park about social networking that I found to be very witty. I felt that it was worthy of a blog entry because of the message that was hidden in the story line, which is that rather than encouraging social networking, the episode conveys the negative aspects of online interaction.
The episode entitled 'You have 0 friends' shows how one characters refusal to conform to society's expectations can leave him isolated and even disliked, until finally he gives in and befriends anyone, and everyone. At one point the father complains to him that he posted a photo on his wall and that he didn't comment it, and therefore felt insulted. Eventually he tries to delete his profile and gets sucked into cyberspace (oh the joys of cartoons and their ability to take you to places thhat you cant go to in the real world) until he defeats is profile and liberates himself from Facebook's grasp.
The sub-plot in the episode shows how another character befriends a boy with 0 friends, and as a result, his popularity falls, until most of his friends have unfreinded him, which sees him resorting to chatroulette to restore his popularity by attempting to find new friends. On the other hand, his new friend is over the moon that he finally has a friend, while his parents are unaware that their sons friendship is only in cyber space and doesnt extend out to real life.
The moral of the story is that our society is becoming so consumed in social networking that it is actually effecting us in real life, not just in cyber space. South Park uses humour to demonstrate the fact that our online profiles begin to define who we are in real life too. Nowadays, to unfriend a person on Facebook means that a friendship is over in real life. A couple is not a couple until their relationship is Facebook official. If you dont accept someones freind request you are being rude or cocky. If you dont comment on someones photo or status you are holding a grudge or being anti-social. Private messages are a substitute for real life, intimate conversations and sharing of secrets. The list goes on.
Furthermore, in relation to the sub-plot it seems that we really do consider tis new form of friendship a legitimate one. While the little boys parents think that their son is at the movies with his new friend, we see that the boy has taken his lap top with him. Whenever his parents think that the boy is actually doing something with his new friend, we see that he is, but through Facebook, not in real life.
This demonstrtes to us what our genration has become. We do not socialize and make time for people the way generations before us used to. Life is easier for us when all our friends are in the one place and we can make contact with them through Facebook at any time. And it seems that the older genrations have also adapted to this way of life.
I think that South Park raises so many good points in this episode that you really do need to watch it for yourself. It really is a window into what our society has become.
No comments:
Post a Comment