I Confess!!

I've recently been toying with ideas about how media and technology affect traditional morality. And I've discovered something. IT IS A SPIRAL THAT NEVER ENDS!! The image below essentially expresses the state of my brain for the last two days.

 Not good. So if you're reading this and all you can think is "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas (or the realm of logical thought) anymore!" then just click your heels three times and think of home. Sorry for the confusion. Or, you can stick around as I search for the yellow brick road to coherence. Bring it on.

How is media and morality a spiral, you might ask? I think my initial problem comes down to a tendency to analyze everything at once. You can't cram all million and a half aspects of morality into one blog post, Erica! Stop trying! But lets face it. Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, is swimming with sin. Like most good novels, it presents the issue panoramically, with each of the characters responding to and interacting with sin in different ways. If any text is going to set my head spinning about morality, this is it. When it comes to media, I don't think I need to tell anyone just how much is out there. We've all seen it. User-generated content (that is my primary focus when I say media) also encompasses a wide moral spectrum, ranging from innocent to offensive to who knows what! (Cat videos, anyone?) The point is- ties between media and morality are endless. Here is my highlight of the day:

Confession vs. Concealment

Not to oversimplify things, but I would suggest that every transgression eventually falls into one of those two categories. And in no small coincidence, this analytic lens applies fabulously to both The Scarlet Letter and to modern uses of technology. As we are all human, and all prone to make mistakes, it makes sense that this tendency to confess or conceal would manifest itself online. But how?

Shame on You: Episode 2

In a recent blog post, I asked my peers to share their opinions on how we, in our current society of social media and digital consumption, express social disapproval. Here is a quick summary of the responses I got, plus some extra thoughts on the side.

1. Ridicule. Just think of the possibilities here- this could include anything from snide comments on blog posts (not to give you any ideas...), derogatory status updates, or disgruntled tweets. If you've got a problem, why not just say so? Technology and social media give us plenty of different options. Making fun makes a point, and can be used to draw attention to offensive behaviors, institutions, or individuals.
2. Content Creation. This was a brilliant insight that I had not previously considered. Just think of all the SNL and parody-type videos you've seen. Imagine the endless supply of BYU memes or "Dear blank, Please blank" letters. Though usually lighthearted, sarcastic, and just plain silly, they often bring out themes that unsettle the public. This could also include more businesslike content, such as political cartoons, blog posts, or online newspaper articles. If words alone will not suffice, individuals can express dissatisfaction with the help of images, videos, and a whole host of digital content.
3. Unfriend/Ignore. We've all done it at one point or another. For me, it was that old high school acquaintance that suddenly developed a very colorful vocabulary in his Facebook statuses. And that girl that got a little too happy with her camera on the beach in Mexico, and the club, and everywhere else that gives an excuse to wear short shorts and low tops... Yech. Whatever your reasoning, social media allows us to delete friendships at the click of a button. If you're not feeling quite that extreme, you can use it to filter desirable and undesirable social interactions. Creeper keeps trying to chat with you online? Easy- just

Rainbows, and Gods End?

"Little clusters of children were here and there along the street. God only knew what they were seeing." - Vernor Vinge, from Rainbows End

Hm. God. I may be wrong, but this is one of the first references I have heard to Him throughout this whole book. Is that incidental? Where is that religious presence to which the American identity is so closely tied? He seems nowhere to be found. When pondering why, I couldn't think of anything but the most obvious answer: the people have not made room for Him. In my reading of Rainbows End, I've seen endless google searching, but not much soul searching. Plenty of <sm/> but no communication with the divine. These futurists can (essentially) create their own worlds, yet they walk through them without ever thinking of the Being that created the original. Why? Has technology become so all-consuming that people simply don't care? Have they become so distracted that they just don't feel Him anymore? Or has modern technology endowed them with such power that they can live without Him, acting as their own Gods and Goddesses?

I don't happen to believe that is possible, that replacement of God with technology. In fact, I know it not to be. What I can believe is that with sufficient resources, a bit of power-hunger, and some ego, society could easily fall into that pattern of thinking. What think ye, O expansive world of Google+?