The Digital vs the Physical

 “As the story goes, the predigital era was the age of reality. Before social media profiles, we were more true to ourselves.”


While the reading focused almost solely on selfies and the role that they’ve come to play within society, I’m going to be approaching this line from a slightly different angle. Part of this is out of necessity, as I have no selfies to share and photography is not my main focus in this class. But I do also want to examine this idea from the perspective of someone who, especially in the past few years, has had a significant presence online. I’ve made friends online and I participate in larger social groups online that I would not otherwise be a part of. This of course has had various effects on me.


For one, a decent amount of my art skill can be attributed to my online presence. Over the past two years I’ve participated in various communities that center a lot around writing and art. Because of this, I’ve had the inspiration to create art that I otherwise would not have made, and I’ve made friends with artists who I have learned a lot from. Because of this, my art has improved rapidly, to the point where it plays a much larger part in my life than I would have previously thought.


There is a common notion that anything digital is less authentic than the physical. And there may be a certain amount of truth to this - after all, digital things do not have the same weight and texture as their physical equivalents. You cannot pick them up or look at them from different angles in the same way you can something physical. However, this doesn’t mean that products of the digital world have any less value than those of the physical world. Take digital art for example. It is very different than traditional art, and can even require a slightly different skill set, but that doesn’t mean that it’s any less difficult or valuable. Both mediums have their benefits, and in many cases, digital art can be more accessible than traditional art, meaning that more people are able to hone their skills or gain an audience than would be able to otherwise.


So no, the digital isn’t any less real or valuable than the physical. The two are simply different, and each has their own benefits and drawbacks, as all things do.

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