源于人类的远古祖先发明语言,创造了两个猩猩可以唠嗑的可能性,蒙古帝国推倒阿拉伯帝国并打通了欧亚大陆的贸易与文化交流之路,为十八世纪在工业革命中诞生的火车加速了财富与科技的流通做下铺垫,使得工业革命两个世纪后互联网技术崛起成为可能。文化与科技的交流方式被不断升级与革新,网速持续突破天际,而不断创新的人类只是为了一件事:用社交网络看更大的热闹,赚更大的钱。
Human ancestors created languages for the needs of informational communication, which later led to significant milestones of human evolutions such as the cultural interchange that followed Mongo Empire’s conquest of Arab Empire, the technological advancements of the Industrial Revolution, and eventually the rose of the Internet that completely altered the means of communications we formally have. All these happened for one single reason: humans desired to have and to know further beyond the contemporary era.
尽管时过境迁往事如镜花水月而且现在镜子都能AR上妆了,一些人性中的基本需求与价值观却并不会随着时间和社交方式的推移而改变。这些价值观是什么,在如何影响着社会?而社交产品在传播价值观的过程中扮演着怎样的角色?这之中社交产品又制造了哪些问题,我们如何解决这些问题?请待我为大家讲三个小故事。
Despite the dramatic changes of our world brought by new technologies and social structures, however, some of our fundamental needs as humans have never faded way with other things we gave up like the tails. In this article I would like to present you three stories with arguments: What are these needs? What do social networks do to these needs? And what problems do they give back to us to solve?
Story One
我很美因为我让你觉得我很美
I'm fabulous because I made you think of that
十八世纪的西班牙贵族们由于吃饱了没事干,开始学法国贵族新思潮流行起穿穷人的衣服来彰显自己“勤俭”和“与时俱进”,还摆好姿势请画家来为自己的简朴与时髦留下一幅幅马卡龙色(来自法国的洛可可风格)的画作供其他贵族欣赏。殊不知,这帮少爷小姐的穷人装压根就是一身饰满金银的丝绸制私人高定,不仅穷人一辈子也穿不起,放到今天听起来简直就像是“哎玛我太穷了只能买得起入门级玛莎拉蒂”,要是摆姿势的时候身边有个真·穷人,那简直比爱马仕还耀眼。同一时间,由于糖是一种只有不刷牙的有钱人才能吃得起的东西,很多富人有一口被糖腐蚀的烂黑牙,所以穷人间开始流行在牙齿上抹黑炭来冒充自己吃的起糖长得起蛀牙,虽然补碳的频率可能比在深圳补防晒还要高。
Dressing and acting like majos (meaning peasants in Spanish) was a romantic 18th Century French fashion widely adopted by contemporary Spanish aristocrats. Not only wearing priceless majo/maja clothings designed with silk and leather, they would picnic and pose, much better if a real peasant was presented, for artists to make brilliant Rococo-style paintings so they could brag to visiting aristocrats about how much they loved the avant-guard European philosophies and how “poor” they were. Meanwhile, a hilarious trend among the real poor people was to paint their teeth black with charcoal, only because rich people had rotten black teeth bruised by sugar, which was not affordable to non-rich people, and easier to make yourself rich without actually spending money.
Story Two
你是风,你是火,火不过网红的我
I'm more famous so I'm more perfect
美国15岁女孩Danielle小小年纪因为偷盗犯罪和撕老妈而上了费尔医生脱口秀节目,节目中因为一句口音浓重的“甭逼逼咱们出去干一架(cash me outside howbow dah)” 和在台上直接指着观众们的鼻子骂他们是碧池一炮而红,火遍美国大街小巷各个社交网络成为盛极一时的巅峰网红公主。第二次参加菲尔医生脱口秀时她对主持人Dr.Phil说:“你以前什么都不是,但老娘让你跟着我红了(I guess what’s good for you is I made you just like how Opera made you. You were nothing before I came [on] this show)”。在她看来,Dr.Phil的价值仅体现在因为她的破口大骂在网上更知名,而不是通过自己的节目帮助了许多痛苦的人。
While presented on Dr.Phil talk show as a 15 years old messy criminal who made her mother miserable, infuriated the host, and called the audience “hoes”, American young girl Danielle’s notorious accent-heavy cry “Cash me outside howbow dah” ran away from the stage and infected all social medias that later made her ridiculously famous over night. She blatantly told Dr. Phil the host on her second appear on his show that “I guess what’s good for you is I made you just like how Opera made you. You were nothing before I came [on] this show”, which totally disregarded how he tried to help her just like how he helped other troubled guests of his show, because she was famous by then.
Story Three
给王菊投票因为做自己最重要
I voted for Naomi because I am who I want to be
火遍全国的网综创造101的黑马练习生王菊通过提倡定义新女团来为自己赢得支持的故事想必家喻户晓。为她的理想而投票的不仅有倡导定义新女团的人,也有许多少数群体,希望借王菊的红来为自己发声,通过王菊的火来为自己正言。王菊靠着勇敢做自己的精神赢得了极高的呼声并一度站到了101舞台的金字塔顶,通过自己的努力与行动让无数满怀期待的观众看到了定义新女团以及勇敢做自己的希望。借助创造101这个平台,一个不受传统观念喜欢的女生勇敢地传递了自己对不公的愤怒以及想要改变世界的决心,牵动并感染了台下的各位观众,展现了令人尊重的一面。
As a competitor of the prevailing competition show Produce 101, and contrary to other tall plus slim girls on the stage, it was surprising to see Wangju (Naomi) slew the runway and won the most support by audiences on social medias at one point. She courageously advocated to redefine the traditional viewpoints of beauty and female idol groups, and attracted tons of audiences to vote for her, including minorities who had been waiting for someone to stand up for them to be opposed to the preconceived ideas of people. Thanks to the show and her lovely fans both on-line and in real life, Naomi elevated from a girl neglected by traditional prejudice to the honorable representation of the future and the hope that people have the power to fight for others who are unjustly discriminated by conventional values.
Point One
我们的价值是否来源于他人的定义?
Do our values come from other people's perspectives or ours?
每个人身上所携带的标签一部分来自于对自我的定义和价值所在,但是在社交场合却来自于他人对自己的定义。标签是我们所有人一生都在背负的东西,不同场合下更是有不同的标签。贵族打扮成穷人然后作画宣扬,穷人牙齿上抹碳去炫耀装富,都是在社交场合中对自己本身的另一种定义,希望体现不同的价值,或者“最想要成为的自己”。在社交世界中,有多少人真正清楚明白地定义了自己的价值?而又有多少人将自己的价值寄托于他人的目光?社交是在帮助我们使自己更充实,还是我们创造了一个巨大的空洞去靠他人填补,这将是一个永远无解的难题。
It is true that we all carry different tags among different occasions, and most of the time our tags define us, but under social occasions, do those tags really tell who we are, or just begging others to believe into our deceiving mascara? Both the aristocrats and peasants tried to make themselves to look like someone they wish to be, or rather “what people think their best version could be”, but those bluffs are merely comforting disguises that do not have any genuine values to people who neither wear them nor look at them. I couldn’t help but wonder the insoluble question: has social communication really fulfilled our needs of finding our values, or does it create huge voids of expectations that we can never replenish?
Point Two
他人对我们的定义能不能给我们带来价值?
Can we benefit from the tags that other people give us?
根据心理学需求金字塔的定义,一个人最高的需求就是自我价值的认同与实现,而对于很多网络时代的年轻人来说,网红就是唯一能体现价值的标签。红即是正确,红就会被模仿,被人追捧。诚然,红人之所以红极一时,有可能就是因为哗众取宠,三观不正,就像Danielle,火了就更肆无忌惮了对吧?但火了之后她在做什么呢?Danielle走红后没有停止对自己的宣传,反而利用这个契机,不仅参加节目,还编曲出版,并且个人新单Hi Bich / Whachu know 一枪打中billboard top 100 和最佳女性说唱歌手提名奖。走红给她带去了价值,但她并没有让“做网红”成为自己的价值,而是寻找机会重新定义自己,改变了自己违法犯罪的命运。
According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, self-actualization is the most wanted achievement of every human being on earth. For most millennial generations on earth, being internet famous on social medias means the most actualized self, such as the infamous famous Danielle who was tagged and expected for crimes and other corrupted qualities. But on the contrary she did not stop and get satisfied by what made her well-known; in fact Danielle redefined herself with her rap single “Hi Bich / Whachu know” which later made into Billboard top 100 list, and she was nominated for the best female rapper of Billboard. Being famous was a gift to her from social medias, but upon the mere attentions and fame, however, was a gift that allowed her to leave the criminal past and starting over with a new life.
Point Three
否定他人对我们的定义是否是我们的价值?
Do our values come from defying how other people labeled us?
王菊借助网综这个平台为观众们带来了热情与希望,通过挑战传统价值标签和追寻自我价值为心中暗藏革命之火的观众们找到了共鸣。网综屏幕前的观众们和菊里人并不是不想打破传统标签,而是在等待一个时机,一把燎原的星星之火,像王菊一样敢于站出来的人。很不幸王菊失败了,女团这次没能被重新定义,社交网络上支持王菊的呼声逐渐走低,但传统价值观受到了极大的挑战和撼动,每个观众都通过这个节目或多或少了解了认同自己和新审美的重要性,并且王菊与王菊的支持者们也相信,或许下一次,这种局面会被打破,并将做自己的理念通过新的形式真正地传播出去。
Naomi showed up for people who have sympathetic feelings about being pressured by social prejudices and internet famous of what makes a true beauty. Her confidence joined those people together through social medias and encouraged a small revolution of challenging conventional labels of beauty and being one’s true self. Although it was a shame that Naomi’s support failed to continue along the continuing of the competition, her fans and citizens of social medias sensed the arising powers that questioned and challenged the conventional discriminations toward females and minorities.
互联网之父蒂姆·伯纳斯·李(Tim Berners-Lee)声称自己制造的是魔鬼,不是未来,并为自己的行为后悔。当我们发现了互联网无限的可能性与潜力,正在摸索它能带给我们的无穷价值的同时,人性浮躁的一面也像是开了闸一样奔涌而出。现如今智能手机人手一部,人们与互联网如影随形,与社交网络中的标签结合的越发紧密,更多的人开始直接用社交网络中的标签去定义自己,并试图用相同的方式去定义他人,甚至是他人的价值。这正是社交网络让人们慢慢失去自我价值的可怕之处,所谓的潘多拉诱人魔盒中的灾难。
One of the first creators of the internet, Tim Berners-Lee, claimed that he brought this world the Pandora’s box - a seductive trap which can lead human destiny into extermination. It is yet too early to judge whether internet or social medias have truly brought destructions, however, some early symptoms have shown: we have let the internet become a part of us; people have slowly given up in self-actualization to indulge into social medias, discarded their abilities of thinking to let mobile applications become the source of their knowledge, and the disaster that also came with those instant on-line pleasure are the superficial definitions of black and white. If these are not Pandora’s curses, what could be?
然而潘大妈的魔盒中也有希望,需要灾难全部离开盒子之后才会显露。有人利用社交网络兴风作浪,就有人利用它扬帆远航。社交产品作为一个渠道,本身没有好坏之分,至于它究竟是魔鬼还是天使,或许永远也不会有答案。然而我们能看到的是,仅过去十年中就有数不清的人通过社交网络为自己的权益发声寻找认同,同时无数的人被社交网络改变命运,足以证明我们正在用社交网络帮助自己去搭建更好的未来。前有贵族通过画作表达自己对时事的关怀,后有不良少女通过走红改变并走出了自己的犯罪人生;浮躁的当代社会在无形中规定了快时代审美的标准,同时也有人敢于站出来借助这个平台挑战成规。我们有理由期待社交网络和其中的人们将会为社会带来更多光明,为人们带来更好的命运,更有理由相信借助社交网络的强大力量,人性中的价值也会被进一步发掘出来,那么相互理解与认同将会是未来社交产品以及我们自己为人类带来的最大价值。
But according to the original mythology, hope was also buried in the box; it was just not released yet until all the tragedies had been set-free. Internet and social medias, as merely means of communications, can never be characterized as “good” or “evil”. Just like waterways or railways, it is solely depended on how people use them and what for. If the mythology is a good analogy of the internet, then we should be hopeful while the unwanted parts of humanity are rampaging on the internet, we also spotted signs of hope. It is because of the internet, we can talk to each other at the closet distance than we could have ever been, and that power had allowed us to help each other for a better future. People on social medias admired internet-famous, so an American girl caught this chance to alter her fate of misery; social media culture set a standard of females and minorities, and as a result people united under someone’s lead to set aside that prejudice. We can and we should have faith that social medias can bring us the future of mutual understanding as well as mutual respect one day, and with a better society connected by those networks, our next potential of humanity will be explored to benefit us even further. That is the hope we have been waiting for, and that is the best part of opening up the Pandora’s box.
联系客服