Have you ever googled yourself? What about put a picture of yourself online? Are you a member of Thefacebook, Friendster, MySpace or LiveJournal? If so, you may be a participant in reverse voyeurism, a conceit-based cultural trend that is sweeping the nation.
Reverse voyeurism is a term I thought my friends and I had coined, but a quick search of the Internet proved otherwise. The term is used when a person feels compelled to put an aspect of his or her life online for public viewing. This could be as simple as an Internet journal (blog) or as potentially graphic as a camera in a room that sends constantly updated photos or clips to the viewer (a sort of image blog). There’s no question that reverse voyeurism is out there; my quandary is: Why?
Reverse voyeurism seems to be mostly a product of our current online generation. We have the skills to use computers, the Internet, digital cameras and the like with minimum difficulty. People no longer need personal Web sites or any knowledge of HTML code to have a complete personal presence online. We have near-constant access to the Internet, and many young people are able to experience uninterrupted usage for extended periods of time. The tools are there; the access is there, and the savvy is there.
Everyone wants to be heard, and using a blog as a personal soapbox is a very common practice. An urge to politicize and prophesize still seems to be the genesis of many-a-blog. It’s important to note that some causes and candidates have been aided by ardent bloggers with large readership bases, but an even greater number of journals are directed toward personal lives.
During the aforementioned googling of my name, I found some guy had written extensively about his crush on a girl named AnneMarie (in a state other than Oregon … sad face using colon and parentheses keys). He wrote of how they met in class, how he had always liked her and how now that he was unattached, he was going to ask her out. Later posts show that he did ask her out, it went well and he was hoping to “get some” from her soon. Yet another post shows that he did indeed.
Now, if I were that AnneMarie, I would be a little red in the face over my beau’s candor. Why did he feel that public forum, in this case a blogging and friend networking site, was an appropriate place to discuss him and his lady? I understand that guys talk, but the Internet is no locker room. Or is it? Have we become so comfortable with the Internet that we no longer feel the need to self-censor our innermost thoughts and most personal encounters?
I live by the rule that if I wouldn’t want my grandmother (a very hip lady) to read it, see it or hear it, I probably shouldn’t be posting it online. Others, it appears, have no such qualms. Maybe it’s the ease with which people can quickly pound out their feelings on a keyboard. Maybe it’s the quasi-anonymity of the Internet. Maybe it’s the pressure involved with our speedy American way of living and the constant emphasis on sending and receiving information quickly.
In the end, like most human endeavors, reverse voyeurism seems to be rooted in the intense need to connect and communicate with others. Instead of writing an e-mail or, heaven forbid, a letter (on paper with a pen and a stamp involved) to one’s friends and family, a mass blog post gets the message out quicker and easier than any other mechanism. No longer simply a dumping point for unfounded political rants and bad poetry (okay, it still is, but also so much more), blogging seems to have permeated our lives in a profound way. But is that such a good thing? For this and answers to all life’s problems, check out my blog at www.livejournal.com. Hey, all my friends are doing it.

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