There were so many things that resonated with me in Jill Walker Rettberg’s Seeing Ourselves Through Technology. Her main point that she states at the beginning argues that the three modes of digital media – visual, written, and quantitative- are inextricable. I kept thinking back to our discussion of technology determinism and the social construction of technology through this reading. I feel that Rettberg would sit in the social construction camp…I decided this when I read “…technology is a means to see part of ourselves. Whether we use a wearable, networked step=counter or a convex mirror and oil paints, technology can reflect back to us a version of who we are” (2). Rettberg determines that through our constant engagement with technology – whether it be oil paint in Parmigianino’s case, or a FitBit in a 21^st century person’s case, technology reflects our need to represent ourselves. Though Rettberg does not quite get down to the core of this human desire, I think that it exists no matter the state of technology.

I was pretty fascinated by what Rettberg theorized about selfies. Upon reading the first chapter which compared Parmigianino’s self-portrait paintings to selfies I was like “Oh, brother…” but then Rettberg discusses “selfie hate” by the media. I immediately knew the type of media coverage she was bringing up – images of news reporters arguing the validity of selfies popped into my head. I roll my eyes at those types of news stories (there’s more/better things to cover besides selfies) but at the same time, I can’t say I don’t roll my eyes when I see someone post a selfie. Rettberg posits selfies as “self-representation” which “involves the creation of texts which will be read and interpreted…just as importantly, creating and sharing a selfie or a steam of selifes is a form of self-reflection and self-creation” (12). I guess I never though beyond the obnoxious factor of selfies, but this makes a lot of sense to me. I often hear people talking about how to “brand” yourself on social media and I think the creation of self through selfies has a lot to do with this.

An extremely magnified example of this phenomenon that Rettberg discusses is Kim Kardashian’s “selfie book” entitled “Selfish”. Kanye obviously inspired the idea, and this example has a lot to do with the cult of fame, etc. but it does speak to self-creation in a very heightened, ridiculous sense. Kim Kardashian certainly has a brand that she built – I sometimes hear people refer to the “Kardashian look”. Admittedly, I follow her on Instagram and observe her selfies. She certainly creates this image of herself, “filtering” and “curating” along the way. This selfie self-representation goes so far in this case as to solidify into a published book. This just proves how prevalent selfies are in the creation of self-brand today.