Do We Shape the Network or Does the Network Shape Us

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Reddit is designed specifically to make the most of this concept of the networked narrative, on this online space your every interest is catered too from science to earthporn and even for humans who are totally not aliens in disguise and are bent on world domination. The freedom that Reddit grants can allow you to be the best version of yourself, to explore the things that either intrigue you or leave a bad taste in your mouth. Additionally, unlike Facebook you don’t have to worry about posting something that would offend your overly opinionated right-wing aunt, the disconnection between your real and online self can allow you to reshape who you are (Kuttainein, 2016). That is until you build too great of a persona online, and care too much about the opinions of other Redditors so you have to censure your online  presence, but the introduction of throwaway accounts can prove to be a remedy for a users more polarizing interests. 

Whilst I like to think that I am the one who is tailoring my experience of Reddit to what I want to see, it would be hubris not to acknowledge the other factors at work. Most notably would be the fact that

myself and the millions of other users are being learned and processed, with every upvote and comment is chronicled and categorized into Reddits data base. Furthermore, the bots of Reddit add an element of consciousness, as they often provide relevant links and comments to the discussions of the thread, despite the fact that there not even human. This is perhaps the foundation for the post-humanist undertone that permeates every online experience (Mcneil, 2012), as to communicate through the internet is essentially human consciousness mediated through an entirely unhuman channel. Reddit capitalizes on this duality of modern technology and the human desire to communicate. In N. Katherine Hayles article How we Became Post Human, she entertains this concept that social media has become a continuation of our consciousness and thus has forever transformed the way in which we socialize.  

 Refrences: 

Dvorsky, G. (2010). 25 years later: Donna Haraway's "A Cyborg Manifesto". Retrieved 2 September, 2016, from http://www.sentientdevelopments.com/2010/10/25-years-later-donna-haraways-cyborg.html

Kuttainen, V. (2016). BA1002: Our Space, Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place Lecture 3: Networks, Narratives and the Making of the Place

Mcneil, L. (2012). There Is No "I" in Network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography. Biography, 35(1), 71-78.