Facebook has become our social networking central. Our status in society is determined by the amount of activity we have on it. However, it's a misleading representation of who we are.
Dilbert here is trying to trick his whole "friend" community by hiring a "frienditute". He easily manipulates the whole system to make himself seem better than he actually is. The loss of physical face-to-face chatting is making us lose our true sense of identity. We're so busy with updating our statuses and advertising ourselves in a way to get people to write on our walls that we forget what it's like to make real friends, to have a proper conversation. This interaction between Amber and Dilbert is simple but contains a large message. Dilbert should be trying to become friends with Amber in reality, not just virtually. Then, maybe she'll naturally be inclined to write on his wall. But, he just wants immediate gratification and offers to pay her if she acts like a "friend" would. Many of us have lost patience for the gradual process of making friends because of all the fast-paced technology all around us.
This is a perfect example of simulacra. The creation of pretend friends in place of real friends is something that we have all experienced. Still, the very act of purchasing someone to pretend to be one's friend reeks of desperation and a lack of any real friends. In fact, it presents a lack of what real friends are or why one should have one. Facebook, in this case, has created a new meaning to word "friend" and actually fuels the want for popularity. By redefining both aspects, one can say that Facebook has inherently changed our human relationships. Instead of just helping to connect friends with one another, Facebook has fed the desire to create friends with random people, or to become Facebook friends with them instead. Dilbert has been making jabs at interoffice relations for so long but this time they made on against social networking in general. Declaring that the people who base their popularity on the amount of friends they have on their profile are losers; the comic strip alludes to the want for prestige and respect or at least an imitation of it. In this comic, it is true that Dilbert should want to become friends with Amber in real life and not just for the satisfaction of getting a Facebook post on his wall but that is just not the case.
ReplyDeleteI think this cartoon also shows how much we value our image. It's not enough to be comfortable with yourself anymore. Instead, we focus on what other people think of us. In the book White Noise, Jack changes his name and appearance to impress others. The guy in the cartoon wants to seem popular and cool by having a lot of "friends" on facebook. To do this he even offers $500 to someone to be his friend. The cartoon mocks facebook "friends" and reveals that in our society our image is more important than our true self.
ReplyDeleteHumans are, by nature, attention seekers. Like Holden Caufield in Catcher in the Rye, we are exhibitionists. Our actions are entirely based off of the impact that they will have on our image. What captures my interest is how Dilbert asks Amber to send him a "public message." Public messages directly affect our images, for everyone can read them and can instantly form opinions of the poster based on word choice and type of humor used. Private messages cannot influence our public images as well because they involve actually getting to know someone without outside attention (in other words, forming a real friendship). Even without the bribe, we can still infer that Dilbert doesn't really want to be Amber's true friend because he wants a public message, which shows that he longs more for other people's attention than for Amber's.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that some people have lost the patience to make friends, I think that it is also that many people do not have the ability to make friends. Because of Facebook, people are only able to talk to others online, and do not know how to communicate in person. In addition, the way some friendships work is that they are very different in person than they are through other forms of communication. I know that there are some people who I talk to online, or through texting a lot, but never in person. This isn't because I am not able to talk to them in person, but more because our relationship is different in person. I think this visual is great. It really sums up how interactions have changed so much, and really how pathetic our society has become with its different values.
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ReplyDeleteThis comic strip accurately depicts how people view their relationships in our present day society. We don't care if we actually know our "friends" on facebook - the most important thing is to have as many as possible. When we are actually friends with people in our real lives, not our virtual ones, it is harder to communicate face-to-face because we are used to having the protection of the computer screen. We have become robotic in our attempts at being social. I think the most interesting part is that the girl actually considers for a moment becoming the "Frienditute", proving that we truly don't care what risks we are taking in becoming "friends" with people as long as we get the perks of having a lot of "friends."
ReplyDelete(edited my earlier comment for a typo)
ReplyDeleteThis comic demonstrates the paradox that our society lives through. We don't use social networking sites to be social. Instead, we pretend to be social on them, trying to attract more real friends by showing off insubstantial friendships with others on the internet. The internet and Facebook are redefining the guidelines to social interactions and how we go about them.