A commonplace can be defined as a space –physical or virtual—
where people “announce” certain interests. It can also be a place where people
with similarities intertwine with one another. According to Kenneth Lockridge,
commonplaces started as books used by gentlemen during the 17th and 18th
centuries to “communicate” with literature. These books where filled with knowledge
acquired over time. Nowadays, virtual commonplaces have been replacing physical
commonplaces such as scrapbooks and sticker collections. Images are a lot more
common in today’s virtual spaces. Good examples of commonplaces of girlhood are
Pinterest, Goodreads (which I recently found…love it!), Facetime (an Apple
teleconferencing app for iphones and ipads. My daughter and her friends use it
quite a bit to chat and even to do homework together), and even texting (girls
use texting to forward poems, quotes, jokes, or to scare one another with
ghosts stories that “must” be sent to a dozen more or else…).
I have to confess that I was reluctant to open a Facebook
account for a long time. I opened one about a year ago, but closed it the minute
I started getting friends invites from people I hardly new (a bit anti-social
maybe). My virtual social life in the past four years has consisted of online
classes, which I can easily classify as commonplaces too. This class is one of
the reasons why I decided to re-open my Facebook account (to login at Pinterest).
The other reason I re-opened my FB is because I promised my daughter I’d let
her have one on her 13th birthday (in two more weeks), and I am a
little worried (terrified is a better word) about the freedom that this tool
will give her. Being a member will allow me to keep an eye on her (ok…spy is a
better word).
Since I re-opened my Facebook last week, I have noticed
something really interesting: the majority of the people I see in it are women,
and the few men that mingle say very little or just post images. Maybe it is
just my experience, and I hate to generalize, but could it be that women are
more social than men? Or, are women less intimidated to talk about personal matters
in the open?
In a different note, I am also noticing that many people in
Facebook copy and paste literature passages and epigrams that reflect their
identity, mimicking what Lockridge’s explains about the commonplace books of
centuries ago. It appears that we haven’t changed much after all.
Nora
Hi Nora,
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I think commonplaces can be virtual these days. I did not think of texting but that has to be a commonplace. The telephone of long ago was a technologically new commonplace back in the day.And I truly believe that we construct our virtual spaces the same way we have always constructed our selves in real time. We now have our photos page to do our scrap booking and memory making. I love facebook and I am thankful that my daughter (in college) has friended me. Although, I am sure there are some things she keeps from me, since facebook has that capacity.
Nice post.
Hi Nora,
ReplyDeleteJust a note on the observation that you've found on facebook benig that more women write status updates, post on walls, than men do. I have found (at least in my circle of people I am friends with on facebook, and various conversations with my friends (girls) about the topic--is that facebook is a commonplace in that one can "mark your territory." One example, is relationships. Guys, for some reason, don't feel the need to post statuses everyday or post pictures (or even "link a relationship" ie Mr. X is "in a relationship" with Ms. Y. This being said, females in relationships are able to use this commonplace as a warning to other females: you may creep on this guy's site, but let it be known I'll leave hints of myself on his site that you will repeatedly find while creeping.
It's also a commonplace where girls can be extremely caddy to eachother and get away with it (i.e. tagging other girls in unflattering photos, uploading drunk pics and tagging women in it a day before going to an interview, etc. etc. for it all looks to the public 'commonplace' eye, that it's all just fun and games, nothing malicious here!
And while I am starting to DESPISE facebook, the fact that it's just really crushing to be on for blows to the self esteem (if your photo that you think you look good in doesn't get "liked" does that mean you are not a "likeable looking" person, if some skanky girl gets 34 comments from guys on it, does she have more to offer the world than someone more conservative?) it's really opening up pandoras' box on building self-esteem--I got my account set up at 17 and wish I had never done it----it's hard to tear away for what is being said in this commonplace about you, or being posted about you, that you might not be able to defend yourself on if you leave it?
I see the shift in Facebook, from social network to commonplace as well. Especially, as Dab points out, it allows for only certain people to be able to see certain posts. Revealing and not revealing to a certain group seems to be at the heart of commonplaces.
ReplyDeleteI initially thought of Facebook as a commonplace, but I also see Facebook as a breeding ground for negativity. It really has the capacity, as Christine said, to be crushing to one's self esteem.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that while the stereotype implies that women are less comfortable with technology, There appears to be more women using Facebook, or using it in a social way bridging the gap between technology and commonplaces. I also like dab's comment about telephones. How do cellphones correlate to commonplaces and gender differences?
ReplyDeleteGirls tend to use text messages as a commonplace to socialize and to display their ideas through forwarding messages (those messages that are sent to several people at once that often include a quote, part of a song, or an epigram). Also, many use iPhones (and/or iPads) with apps that have the capability of teleconferencing other people (FaceTime is a good example). Apple has some texting apps that will let you add images easily. Many young women, like my daughter, are addicted to iPhones due to their social networking capabilities. These phones allow easy access to many of the networking sites we already mentioned (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
DeleteI don't think male teenagers use texting as much as teenage girls do, what do you think?
Nora
I don't text AT ALL. Just sayin'
DeleteA male friend of mine just noted his surprise that he was expected to text rather than call women he might date now. Do "the sexes" see texting differently or is it a generational thing? I'm wondering if 15-year-olds say (of all genders) text equally and it's older generations (like mine, maybe) that see the gender differences.
DeleteApparently both gender and age influence our text-messaging preferences. The following site shows the research (from 3Q, 2011): http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/new-mobile-obsession-u-s-teens-triple-data-usage/
DeleteInteresting findings are: Teens do text a lot more than any other age group (3,417 texts per month in average!). Teenage girls do text more that teenage boys.