Oversharing: Presentations of Self in the Internet Age

Ben Agger

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317554516
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

People 'overshare' when they interact with others through the screens of computers and smartphones. Oversharing means to divulge more of their inner feelings, opinions and sexuality than they would in person, or even over the phone. Text messaging, Facebooking, tweeting, camming, blogging, online dating, and internet porn are vehicles of this oversharing, which blurs the boundary between public and private life. This book examines these 'presentations of self', acknowledging that we are now much more public about what used to be private. With this second edition, Agger adds a new chapter on whether privacy is possible that addresses selfies, job loss due to oversharing, the surveillance state, and examples of when the private should go public.

Glossary/Index

A

Adorno, Theodor xi, 57

Agger, Ben 6, 8, 16, 22, 62

Alford, Henry 12

alienation: Marx’s term for being out of control of one’s life, especially because one is merely an employee of big business 16

amateur porn: pornography depicting regular people, not paid actors, having sex 18, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41

American Psychiatric Association 6

And the Heart Said Whatever 2

anomie: Durkheim’s term for being alone in a crowd, untethered by strong social ties 18

apps: short for applications, software that can be run on a phone or computer, originating from iPhone discourse 11, 63

Ashley Madison 29

B

banality, immersion in 3, 4, 7

BBW: dating lingo for big beautiful woman 30

Begley, Sharon 2

bi-curious: a straight (heterosexual) person curious about having sex with someone of one’s own gender 37

blogging 2, 11, 12, 60

bodies; erection photographs 33–4, 37, 40; images of sexualized 34; problems 6–7; shaved genital area 32, 34, 39; through a pornographic prism 41, 42; trafficking in 6, 32–3, 34

bondage: tying up or restraining one’s sexual partner during sex, typically with the man restraining the woman 18, 33, 39

borderline personality disorder: a serious emotional disturbance characterized by impulsive behavior and love–hate relationships, possibly stemming from earlier abuse 6, 7, 13, 59, 60

Bourdieu, Pierre 22

breasts 34

C

capitalism 62–3

Catcher in the Rye 37

celebrities 2, 4–5, 17

Chatroulette 18

chatting: breezy conversations sometimes conducted online via instant messaging 25

Chua, Amy 15

commercialization of love and sex: putting a price on dating and intimate physical relationships, such as via online dating services, pay-for-view pornography, and prostitution 29

communication, online and offline 26–7, 59

community: real people who share certain values and interact frequently, whether face-to-face, online, or both 58; adolescent forming of 8, 14; not connection 45–7; searching for 3–4, 8; texting as 13

concealment 3, 5, 12–13

connection: less substantial relationships that are often here today and gone tomorrow (by contrast to community, which is more enduring) 45; addictive nature of 48–9; community not 58–60; searching for 3–4, 8, 12–13

contacts: people with whom one is regularly in electronic contact, such as phone friends 13, 57, 58

Cooper, Thomas 62

Cotten, Sheila 25

cougar: older, more sexually experienced woman 30

cracking: allows an app to ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Series Foreword
• Preface
• I. Thanks for Sharing
• II. Texting, Tweeting, and Blogging
• III. Social Media
• IV. Online Dating
• V. Internet Pornography
• VI. Is Privacy Possible?
• VII. A Non-Pornographic Public Sphere
• References
• Glossary/Index