Social Media, or "Antisocial" Media?

We live in a social network. Whether it’s which dorm or house you reside on campus, which professors you have, or even where you sit in Commons- instantaneously makes us all part of the “Bates bubble“. We hold this truth to be self-evident: that the velocity regardless of however fast the individual travels, our fate is inevitable. We’re bound to cross paths, and I mean, “worlds collide” {Here’s a “Seinfeld”-ian example that reminds us why we can’t live alone}

It’s only recently that so many people who can’t stop talking (especially businesses to market products) have taken it to a whole new level: the Internet. As we “twitter” and fritter away throughout our lives, it fascinates me that the Web has become a virtual chat-room for all to come and go to express themselves freely- although this certainly does entail harmful “antisocial” consequences as well, like the spawning of the privacy debate on Facebook , the suicide of Tyler Clementi, and most recently, this WikiLeaks controversy.

And of course, as Bates is always a beehive for boundless buzz, a dialogue about dialogue is to be expected. As part of the “Race in a Post-Human World” panel (for those including me who read “post-human” and said, “What in the world is that?”, click here)l, Bates is hosting a series of lecturers who will talk about online identities. This evening, author Lisa Nakamura is to discuss the roles that race and sexuality play in the cyberterrain.

Whether we like it or not, social media is here to stay. After all, I am writing this blog. Because as the storyline goes, “you don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.”