There are different forms of lifestyle, but as a Geek Chic for me a big part of the everyday is taken up with being in front of a screen (whether computer or handheld digital gadgetry) at moments of near motionless, aside the tap, tap, tapping of the keyboard. The traditional icon of other so occupied persons has been the computer nerd programmer; who is sitting for hours on end slowly moulding into their seat. Put together this lifestyle in front of the computer and all those (computer) chips and another stereotype emerges, the larger than life ‘fat n lazy’. And so there is compromise between the active and able person, compared to the static individual when locked into the computer. With this in mind, this renders more complex messages about femininity and masculinity.
Traditionally compared to women, the masculine body is the more powerful corporeal statement. To be so immobile in front of the computer re-contextualises such power discrepancies and other cultural perceptions. Moreover as a user of Web 2.0 you can choose to not disclose gender, sexuality, height, size or any other physical dimensions that set you apart offline. HOWEVER, as has become increasingly the case the convergence of online and offline social markers are more important than ever. Well you can’t sign up to many SNSs without disclosing gender. And it is not de rigeur to have a Facebook profile without at least one true to life image.
So are we enabled when online or in another way disabled by the physical labour of being in front of the screen? I’ve been prepared for the social processes and sets of relationship dynamics when I’ve connected to others on the Internet (i.e. how to introduce myself etc) but it is only recently that the actual act of sitting at my desk has started to take on new culpability. I’ve found that the often seated and sedentary aspect of being on the Internet requires a different set of muscles and reactions. With this in mind, should one boast about the hours on end spent reclining in front of the screen, or put in place strategies to leave the comfort of the chair and actualise the self in another way? More to the point do we want to ease ourselves out of the seat, and what will this mean if we do?
Maybe if I go outside and email myself via my iphone I’d find out.
(note to self buy iphone)
Another version of this post is also published on Maz Hardey’s Web 2.0 Media Talk blog
About Dr Mariann Hardey
I hold the position of Lecturer in Social Media Marketing at Durham Business School. I also spend too much time enjoying social technologies, media+ stuff. That'll make me a Geek then. And a gal.
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