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Selling ourselves for attention

Posted On 05/14/2008 14:32:22 by Metal_Minish

I've been bitchslapped with the obvious. Or have I been tricked?
I read this on a forum, where someone was saying his goodbyes and leaving not only the forum, but the whole Internet.
This was his reason for hating the Internet, and to go and spend his time elsewhere.
" I hate the illusion that on the Internet you're talking to real people. You're not, these people are probably a totally different person in real life compared to who they pretend to be online. The Internet is a disgusting marketplace where people sell themselves to the highest bidder (the currency is called "Attention").
'Look at me, I'm so photoshopped that if you saw me IRL, you wouldn't recognize me!
Read my blog, my life is so interesting that EVERYONE should know what I do during the days!
I don't mind showing the world my private life, just write something in my guestbook! ANYTHING, please write to me!
Notice me!!!' "

And, I agree. Are we writing and showing pictures just to hear what others think, and to get noticed? If we just did this for ourselves, wouldn't we be making documents in Word and saving them on our own harddrive, or even writing diary on paper instead of having a blog online?
It got me thinking, and I will try to find out why in the world I find it so much fun to tell someone that they have an awesome cosplay, or why I've posted pictures of myself cosplaying.
...and I'm wondering what reasons people have, when you think about it like this.

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Viewing 1 - 4 out of 4 Comments

From: Metal_Minish

05/19/2008 05:04:58

Thanks for the responses! Made me re-think.
And you're right, what the guy in my main post was talking about is the attention whores that show off too much of themselves and write way too much about their life. Showing your cosplays, arts and stories/fanfics is totally different from that.

Here we're all interested in cosplay, so we want to share what we know and what we have done, and see what others have made, and learn from each other. I guess it's not much different than going to a con and talking to the cosplayers there.
Heh, now I can get back to posting cosplay pics without feeling like I'm selling myself... XD

From: DizzyLizzy

05/15/2008 06:34:45

I've always used the internet for meeting new people and catching up with old ones. It just so happens I cosplay as well. I rarely updated here (although for some reson I'm listed as #2 for blogs. I really don't get that considering I'll go weeks without anything.). I have a LJ that's locked mbecause I don't want random people reading things. It's always why when I wrtie anything here, it's only cosplay related 99% of the time.

As for posting pics..... When I finish a costume, I feel accomplished and want to show it to others. It's a natural reaction for humans to do. Granted, I post just a couple pics of anything on any site. I utilize it to meet people with similar interests and receive constructive criticism. And let's not kid ourselves, a little afformation is a good thing to keep someone positive. Just as long as it doesn't go to their heads, right? lol

From: RobotPenguin

05/14/2008 23:31:01

now you got me thinking too. i don't know if it's nessecarily bad that we do this. it can be when it becomes an unhealthy obsession as is true for everything. i do keep something of a personal journal and i don't make it 'live' for all to see. what's wrong with sharing information and connecting with others if there is a mutual bennefit?
i'm not quite sure what this person's reasons are for being so disillusioned with the whole of the internet. sometimes i think people use cellphones too much. i prefer to talk to people live and i don't keep my phone on all the time. yet i don't hate the people who seem to be plugged in all the time.

From: Artemis_Moon

05/14/2008 20:13:15

Well, the thing with cosplay is that we show them off in person at conventions anyway - Posting pictures up is really no different, other then it's a rather broader network. We have our photos taken anyway by others and they post pictures of us too.

It really depends, not ALL people are attention hungry (I don't have a blog lol other then on Deviantart.com or here but it's never for anything really personal) I don't have myspace nor facebook because I don't believe in following fad sites...I'm sure there are other people out there like that. I used to have LJ years ago too but learned to hate it.

I think there is two versions of attention by people in the internet: 1) The attention in desire to meet new friends, have your work notice (Like art, cosplay, fanfiction etc), and educate yourself and others. 2) Attention whores. To do anything just to get noticed, whether by acting in a certain manner (Posting nude pictures of yourself for example) or posting aggresive works (Writing articles that make fun of people, for another example) these kinds of folks tend to fish for compliments or a reaction. Fame is the priority.

So...obviously there is a much healthier method of attention XD There is more but I won't babble away with massive paragraphs.

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