The members of the computer literate and virtually active generation are made to feel inadequate because of a perceived apathy toward traditional values and a selfish commitment to the 'unreal' world of the internet. Ultimately, I wish to affirm this mode of self-expression, and seek to help others identify their Myspace/Facebook/Twitter/Livejournal/Flickr accounts as an essential part of humanity: the attempt to create the pleasant sensation of timelessness and meaning.
By trying to understand the cultures of the internet for what they are, rather than dismissing groups like vloggers as simply narcissistically imaging themselves, the ways in which the products of their creativity represent different perspectives on both the value of the internet, and subjective experiences of existence in general becomes available for consideration. The otherwise mundane, obscene, or vapid thoughts that are catalogued via vlog are transformed into a sensational allegory of our lives. Instead of seeing life as it is represented by a polished and marketable Hollywood movie, YouTube allows us to observe millions of fragments of amateur video describing life from an equally numerous set of vantage points. The uploaded vlog forms part of a universal self-portrait of all internet users. |