Social media and Web 2.0 is often touted as a mechanism for increased democracy, openness and freedom. As a source of social good, in other words. I tend to agree most of the time. However, a lengthy and well-written piece by Lakshmi Chaudhry in The Nation examines the flip-side of this, arguing that allowing each individual a platform to achieve their dreams of fame is indulging a wide-reaching social phenomena whereby fame has become the ultimate goal. ‘Worth’ becomes your Technorati ranking, YouTube views and number of MySpace friends. The name ‘social media’ becomes rather ironic when the focus is often upon personal success.
Statistics are readily available to show that fame has become the ultimate goal for many young people, and one they believe is quite accomplishable:
A 2000 Interprise poll revealed that 50 percent of kids under 12 believe that becoming famous is part of the American Dream. It’s a dream increasingly shared by the rest of the world, as revealed in a recent survey of British children between 5 and 10, who most frequently picked being famous as the “very best thing in the world.” The views of these young children are no different from American college freshmen, who, according to a 2004 survey, most want to be an “actor or entertainer.” … A Harris poll conducted in 2000 found that 44 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 24 believed it was at least somewhat likely that they would be famous for a short period.
The revelation that You are the Time Magazine Person of the Year for 2006 reinforces this. You got the front cover (via a mirror) not because you created a business empire, invented a cure for cancer or over-threw an oppressive government. No, this ultimate accolade is now awarded because you chose to, ““make a movie starring my pet iguana…mash up 50 Cent’s vocals with Queen’s instrumentals…blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street.”
The piece goes on to show that the 15-seconds of fame offered by Web 2.0 may not be quite as rewarding as one might hope. The author quotes The Frenzy of Renown by Leo Braudy:
Through the technology of image reproduction and information reproduction, our relation to the increasing number of faces we see every day becomes more and more transitory, and ‘famous’ seems as devalued a term as ‘tragic’
If you’re currently watching UK TV, you might have appreciated the treat of Jade Goody, famous for being loud and ignorant, lording it over legendary film director Ken Russell, in the latest series of Celebrity Big Brother. If you can become famous for anything, then the worth of fame is surely devalued.
Jean Twenge, the author of Generation Me, believes that, “You teach kids they’re special. And then they watch TV, the impression they get is that everyone should be rich and famous. Then they hear, ‘You can be anything you want.’ So they’re like, ‘Well, I want to be rich and famous.” The way in which young people have been brought up has created the conditions for unrealistic expectations that you will indeed be as special as mum and dad said.
Chaudhry believes that the meaning of the Internet is deeply infused with these notions of narcissism and self-interest, not just in its current incarnation, but right from the start:
Beginning with the dot-com boom in the 1990s through to its present iteration as Web 2.0, the cultural power of the Internet has been fueled by the modern-day Cinderella fantasy of “making it.“
What does it matter? An infatuation with one’s own fame might have good effects. Young people may re-interpret altruistic acts as “making a difference”, which puts their own rewards and the accolades they might receive as the focus for good deeds but nonetheless gets those actions done. Unfortunately, though, a focus on yourself makes it less likely that people will become involved in collective action — where’s the glory in joining a group? — and social change tends to involve collective will: groups of more than one person.
However, the world is moving swiftly and real-life events may act quickly to knock us out of our virtual cocoons. In Hello, I’m Special, Hal Niedzviecki argues that things like climate change and the spectre of world war are likely to change this world view: “There are a lot of things on the horizon that could shake us out of the way we are now. And some of them are pretty ugly … You won’t be able to say that my MySpace page is more important than my real life.… When you’re a corpse, it doesn’t matter how many virtual friends you have.” The trouble is, of course, that by then, it will be too late.
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This is a complicated subject because I don’t know if the focus of most youth is on “fame.” Many other sociological/psychological motivations can be identified.
During the teen years the desire is to “fit in” with your peers…to not appear different. Also, during these years teens want to separate from their parents. I see teens using the internet as a way to satisfy those wants.
If the desire for fame is as universal as the statistics suggest, then it may be that wanting to be famous actually equates to fitting in!