Turkle talks about computers having a psychology in her article and whether or not that constitutes “life.” She says that children and adults assign human attributes to the computer but stop short of assigning them life. She says that given the way we interact with computers, they almost do seem to have a personality. Add to this configuration websites like Myspace and Facebook, and it is easy to see how the line between reality and computer reality has gotten blurred.
Let me start by saying I do not have a Facebook account. I only just joined the Myspace bandwagon about a year ago. I love Myspace. I love creating and changing my page. I love reading my friends’ bulletins, their profiles, blogs, and status updates. All of my friends are people I know. One of my complaints about Myspace is that there are people with thousands of friends, bands, celebrities, etc. and they have no idea who they are. What is the point of that? I have heard of Facebook. I assumed it was just like Myspace. Then I read the article, apparently it is quite different. You actually have to know your friend. Imagine that. Maybe I will try it. I doubt it since I am not a big fan of change and am quite familiar with Myspace, but maybe. My guess is that many of the “improvements” I have seen on Myspace are a direct result of Facebook’s surge in popularity. Hey, whatever gets the job done, right?
