In this essay, Poster speaks of new communications in relations to postmodernity. He calls all the new technology the “second media age” and says, “ Subject constitution in the second media age occurs through the mechanism of interactivity. A technical term referring to two-way communications…interactivity has been the most popular application of the Internet.”(541) This is interesting because this was written in the 90s and looking back, he was right. Take a look at our obsessions with AIM, MSNmensenger than came Myspace, Facebook and Facebook chat…We are hooked on this instant interaction with people all around the world, may they be our friends or people we actually do not know. Poster speaks of this as “virtual communities” in opposition to “real communities” like our city, our neighbors and such. He quotes Howard Rheingold “what we are looking for is instant access to ongoing relationships with large number of other people”. Reading this sounded so pathetic. It is clearly our cultural problem of Bigger, Faster, Better. We feel more comfortable speaking with people instantly, right now behind a computer than going out of our way to meet a friend in person. And the issue is we think it is real. It is just a verisimilitude, as Lyotard would put it. A reproduction of the real, therefore connecting this to Benjamin’s theory, by communicating in a reproduction, it loses its essence. Our relationships lose their essence and no longer are authentic, they’re simply margarine.
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