The Post-human Police: Have We No Freedom?

Instagram is used by millions of people who wish to share photographs depicting their everyday lives, thus creating an online identity. However, one's online identity is regulated by the software, as well as interactions with other Instagram users. In a way, the software, as well as other users, act as 'cyber police' which can be very disempowering. 

To begin with, the very first thing anyone new to Instagram, or any social media site for that matter, will have to do is create a profile. On Instagram users have a 'bio', which is a short description of yourself and what you do. According to McNeil (2012, p. 68), "the auto/biographical act of creating a Profile follows particular company guidelines and establishes community norms for participation." This rings true for Instagram, as the community norms for what your bio says is very limited, and when your bio follows those norms, people tend to want to interact with you more. This can be very disempowering because users have to silence parts of their narrative to be able to interact with others. 

Van Luyn (2015) argues that some narratives are more acceptable than others, and I think this is also true on Instagram. Instagram has some very strict Community Guidelines, which has gotten many people in trouble (think Miley Cyrus and the 'Free The Nipple' campaign). Instagram's Community Guidelines say "If you see something that you think may violate our guidelines, please help us by using our built-in reporting option," which allows power to be wielded by some users over others, because what "violates community guidelines" is subjective. This post-human policing is part of the interaction with other users, in addition to liking and commenting, which helps create an online identity because we have to think before we post a picture. So really, we aren't all that free to be our own, authentic selves, even through pictures of our everyday lives. 

References:

Instagram. (2015). Community Guidelines. Retrieved from https://help.instagram.com/477434105621119/ 

McNeill, L. (2012). There Is No "I" in Network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography. Biography, 31(1), pp. 65-82. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/

Van Luyn, A. (2015). Networked Narratives: Intertextuality [Lecture slides]. Townsville: James Cook University

Image Reference:

Schager, N. (2014). WRONG MOVE, REMAKE: THE LASTING RELEVANCE OF PAUL VERHOEVEN'S ORIGINAL ROBOCOP. Retrieved from http://www.villagevoice.com/film/wrong-move-remake-the-lasting-relevance-of-paul-verhoevens-original-robocop-6440924