Summary Of The Naked Crowd By Jeffery Rosen

In "The Naked Crowd," Jeffery Rosen describes how the 1000 plus people depicted in profiles published in the New York Times’ Portraits of Greif, were viewed by many as failed attempts at capturing the personalities of these people. At around 200 words, each these profiles were filled with a couple hobbies or quirks in an effort to sum up each person’s life into memorable snippets of information, but at the same time removed any complexity of personality from that individual. Rosen then goes on to compare these tributes with social media websites, and how we create our own simplified versions of ourselves based on what we want other people to see. When you compare these profiles with the actual person, there is no comparison. This behavior is
In fact, studies show only 7% of communication between people is based on written or verbal word. With this 93% of our communication context taken away, we are attempting to construct relationships based on phrases, abbreviations, snippets, and emoticons. By providing this information, the author expects you to think about how this kind of restricted communicating can potentially create unhealthy socializing habits. This relates to Rosen’s explanation of how harm can come to the people who are venting their thoughts and emotions into a void, hoping for a reassuring response from the audience. “For example, a nationwide study of psychological responses to 9/11 found that those who sought social support and vented their anxieties without receiving positive reinforcement were more likely to feel greater distress during the six months after the attack than those who engaged in more social coping activities such as giving blood or attending memorial services”(Rosen). When Rosen examines the emotional state of people affected by 9/11 and how they coped with that tragedy, I think he is really trying to ask his audience who they would prefer to be helped by when faced with a problem like this: someone with which you spend time with on a regular basis, or any random person to stumble upon your Facebook
For it to be a truly effective communication vehicle, all parties bear a responsibility to be genuine, accurate, and not allow it to replace human contact” (Tardanico).This quote shows that social media has the potential to do good, but because individuals are constantly urged to market themselves to a world full of strangers via the Internet and its numerous social networking sites, they instinctively create a personal image that is seen as consistent and memorable. “Awash in technology, anyone can hide behind the text, the e-mail, the Facebook post or the tweet, projecting any image they want and creating an illusion of their choosing”(Tardanico). More and more people in today’s society have no problem disclosing intimate details to strangers. Some even create false images of themselves to appeal to others as trustworthy and intelligent. Rosen brings up the idea of “personal branding,” in which individuals present the best version of themselves in order to establish and maintain emotional connections with strangers. These personal branders thrive upon approval from the public, hoping to become more successful in their careers as online entities. Rosen touches on this subject to get his audience to think about how they are personal branders themselves in their own way, maybe not as extreme, but are still guilty of selective