number five

While home for Thanksgiving Break, I watched True Life: I Live Another Life on the Web. This episode followed three girls, all who had some form of anxiety with the real world. Amy, a musician, has a fan base on Second Life but she's terrified to play in front of people in real life. Another girl, Judy, has a almost soft-core porn website, but she's extremely shy and timid when she has to interact with others. The third girl, Maleri, meets guys online and has cyber-relationships with them, but like the other girls, is too shy to meet boys more traditionally. What I found interesting was that all three of these girls did not feel comfortable interacting with others in real life, and used their computer screens to hide. Would this still be a problem for them if we did not have the internet? How would they interact in the world if technology was not such a big aspect of our lives? Would they eventually "get over it," or would they forever be crippled and hide away from society?


Judy, the girl who takes pictures of herself, has a fan who pays her apartment rent. He often pressures her into taking full frontal naked pictures, and she doesn't mind. She often talked about how the pictures gave her a sense of control, so if there was ever a time where she felt uncomfortable, she could just "turn off the computer." I thought it was strange that someone who was super shy, but yet took naked pictures of herself, could be so detached and blasé about the whole situation. Maleri, who meets men online, also takes pictures of herself if the guy online asks for them. She also talked about having a sense of "control" because she can take pictures of her body she is most comfortable. Maleri also acknowledged that she knew her relationships online were not going to go anywhere, but she is too embarrassed to talk to guys face-to-face. There was one scene where her friends had to go talk to guys for her, but she was too self-conscious to carry on a conversation. Amy, the musician, was nervous at the beginning of the episode to play in front of an audience, but she soon mustered up enough courage and played a couple open-mic sets. She has a mentor, another Second Life musician, who helps her become more comfortable to play in front of a live audience. 


After looking back on everything we have discussed in class, I realized that this episode is only the beginning of the online generation. Are there going to be more cases of social anxiety as the Internet becomes more and more prevalent in our lives? Are we no longer going to be able to carry on face-to-face conversations, or are we no longer going to be even talking to others face-to-face? This episode aired in 2008, so it's interesting to see how these three stories are still relevant to society. I would like to think that people will be capable of navigating in the virtual and real world, but I can see how others can run into problems.