Mary Dyck and Twittering

Theme 2. Electronically mediated relationships from Mary Dyck to twitter followers.

It is no longer the days of Mary Dyck. Mary Dyck was a typical 1930’s farmer wife who tended to the home while her husband worked in the fields. While attending to her chores, she sought entertainment and escape through her family radio. She religiously listened to her favorite station’s soap opera and recorded the program’s juicy details in a diary, as if the characters were her personal friends. We no longer gather in our living rooms, around a radio, for entertainment. This concept is obsolete. But is the idea behind tuning in to a social network for entertainment and escape also dead? I think not.
In the 21st century there are numerous social networks on the web that I know of and probably thousands of others that I am not yet knowledgeable of. These social networks allow for communication between friends to be kept, despite the physical distance of the individuals. It permits individuals to feel a part of friends’ lives, as if they are right next to a particular friend. The best example of this is the social network Twitter. It instantly reports the thoughts of individuals to his/her friends’ cell phones. If a Twitter user is eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that is shaped like a T-Rex and feels like sharing the experience with all of his/her followers, it is completely possible. The followers, who are hopefully all close friends with the fellow Twitter user, will not only be filled in on the individual’s life, but he/she will also be entertained. Who wouldn’t smile over a totally random revelation that a sandwich could look like a dinosaur? And it would definitely be the perfect quick escape from a boring, monotonous job, like collecting tickets at a movie theatre. I am not a Twitter user or a movie ticket collector, but I have a feeling that my example demonstrates why people Twitter...or Tweet. It’s an entertaining escape, like Mary Dyck’s tuning in to the radio. No matter how boring one’s life may seem, there is always the prospect of living vicariously through another Twitter user! Mary Dyck experienced a great sense of enjoyment through her radio soap opera characters’ emotions and Twitter users who share emotions/thoughts with followers experience the same type of enjoyment.
Then there are the extreme fans of celebrities. These Twitter users are a category all in themselves. They follow their favorite celebrity’s every move through Twitter. For these individuals, watching television interviews, Youtube videos and following celebrity blogs are no longer enough. Now they must resort to being sent instant messages of their celebrity “friend’s” every move. These individuals are involved in a para-social relationship or a one-sided relationship. This idea is best described in the article, “Why Oprah Will Never Talk to You. Ever.” The relationship between fans and their favorite celebrity is limited to a, “one-way nature of fame. You can see Oprah (on the TV), yet Oprah can’t see you.” However, fans can’t seem to grasp this concept. They watch Oprah religiously, just like Mary Dyck listened to her radio program, and feel as if Oprah is a part of his/her life. It as if Oprah is speaking directly to each of her viewers individually and not millions of fans. Thus, these are the avid fans that feel that because Oprah is more of a close friend than a TV host, she must be on the list of people whose thoughts instantly appear in one’s cell phone.