Last Saturday at the Big House, I saw a sea of Maize-and-Blue — as it is often described whenever we convene at the stadium — complete with bodies packed and bleachers stacked in undulating exaltation. Hours later, a similar sea moving in a much faster fashion rushed ashore on the surface of my phone as one by one, post after post flooded my feed all in service to gameday.
But let’s be clear. Gameday photos are never a monolith. They exist in multitudes. There’s the tailgate pic at the pregame, the pic in front of the stadium, the pic inside the stadium whilst standing in the crowd, the stadium selfie, and the enduring pic exemplifying the view of the vast amalgamation of fans, players, stadium decorations, lights and iconography.21q 23r Nonetheless, the feed dries. The game day hype (temporarily) dies, but I know with great certainty the wave will return, not just offline, but online too.
Aquatic allegories aside, it’s no secret that social media and our use of it play serious roles in our lives. Many of us now recognize it as having a pathological character to it, as exemplified in documentaries like “The Social Dilemma” (2020) and psychological thrillers like “Black Mirror.” We can see a common critique of digital connection daily as we witness more and more the rejection of the online coupled with the glorification of the offline, leading us to demonize the former through our veneration of the latter. Yet this precipitous perspective, rooted in what social theorist...
Read Full Story: https://www.michigandaily.com/michigan-in-color/social-mediating-the-soul/
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.