A Performative Solo

“Social media forms are performative solo forms with an odd conflation of friendship and marketing; the body is alone in a room performing the self, with an undercurrent of desire for applause. Without a town square to gather in and hash out the day with neighbors, social media communications have a shading of loneliness underneath.”
Annie-B Parson

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  1. i spoke with a friend about this quote. She said “what bothers me is the insinuation that IRL encounters aren’t performative/deeply lonely.” I think this is a type of heightened language that used to appeal to me (a poet who got my start on Mary Oliver) but creates a false dichotomy and actually really sells short that social media can be a very human, interconnected place depending on the type of imagination one approaches with. There are problems but unsure this type of language moves towards a solution or curiosity about who we are….