Blog Post 4

[technologies of the self] permit individuals

to effect by their own means or with the help of others a certain number

of operations on their own bodies and souls, thoughts, conduct, and

way of being, so as to transform themselves in order to attain a certain

state of happiness, purity, wisdom, perfection, or immortality’ (18)

I think this quote speaks a lot about how people want to change themselves to be better, stronger, smarter, nicer ect. I find myself doing this on occasion. I find myself buying books about dieting, exercise, and success and reading them to change myself for the better and my online activity certainly reflects that, but sitting down at the end of a long day watching netflix and eating a whole pizza with my roommate (undocumented online) does not.

‘To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting

oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge –

and, therefore, like power’

This certainly applies when I take a picture. I think one of the hardest things for me to admit to other people is that I had a bad day, or that I’m tired, hungry, angry, or upset. A picture I take of myself and certainly one I share with the world will never reflect that thirty minutes before taking it I had stepped in gum and somehow managed to track it all the way through my apartment before noticing that some of it had gotten stuck in my carpet. It’s a very powerful thing to be able to post a picture that other people like when in reality I was having a terrible day.

My Facebook reflects that I’m a little sister, dare devil, that I live very far away from my family.

My Pintrest shows that I’m a bi-monthly gym goer, who cooks a lot and enjoys planning Christmas presents months in advance.

My linked-in might show that I’m a waitress and I’ve never really worked as anything else.

My instagram shows that I’m an avid traveler, but not-so-avid picture-taker.