Facebook: A Digital Age Arcade

Facebook: A Digital Age Arcade

Jordan Kulmar

Modern Day Flaneur. (The Slacker In Modern Fiction: The Flaneur Goes to the Mall, 2012)

With the contradictory traits of anonymity and noticeability - observing whilst being observed - the flaneur occupies space in a disengaged manner (Prouty, 2009). Originating in the old arcades of Paris, they are a symbol of the freedom that comes with being anonymous in a large crowd (BA1002, 2017). Movement is also key to the flaneur, slowly basking in the tangible and intangible items on display in the arcade, these people were never idle. But now the flaneur has evolved from the arcade, and has been digitized onto Facebook (Barnes, 1997).

As previously stated, maintaining a sense of anonymity is important to the flaneur (Prouty, 2009). These days, on networking sites such as Facebook, ‘total anonymity’ is no longer an option for the modern day flaneur as profiles are readily available. However, anonymity may be gained from the sheer volume of the content available as - much like the Paris arcades - Facebook is also full of traffic. It’s this high level of traffic that allows anything the flaneur does to be lost in the crowd, maintaining a sense of anonymity (Barnes, 1997). Mobility is another key element for the flaneur and, similar to anonymity, there is only a ‘sense’ of mobility online.

As a person becomes familiar with their surroundings, the more likely it is that their internal representations of the place become spatial (landmarks), rather than sequential (maps) (Prouty, 2009). This was the case for the arcade flaneur. However, the cyber-flaneur is left to flounder about the landmarks of the web without proper sequential orientation. To help, the developers of Facebook set limits to the space allowing users to re-orientate and discover new points of orientation easily themselves. This, coupled with an array of tangible goods on offer, gives the cyber-flaneur the illusion of spatial and temporal mobility that they desire (Barnes, 1997).

A final requirement for a flaneur is to be observed whilst observing (Prouty, 2009). In the arcades of Paris, the flaneur accomplished this by dressing to catch wandering eyes whilst they themselves, move at a slow pace in order to take in the sights. Today, the cyber-flaneur scrolls the Facebook newsfeed at a leisurely pace, taking in the sites of other users’ posts or sponsored content. They too, are observed by posting material online to catch the passing eyes of other users, and by doing this, the modern flaneur has accomplished the same effect as the flaneurs of old, whilst only performing small motor tasks (Barnes, 1997).

Comparing and contrasting the arcade flaneur to the modern day cyber-flaneur, the overall result of the behaviour is the same, it’s the method that has changed. Instead of being anonymous in a crowd, flaneur anonymity comes from high network traffic flow. For mobility, there isn’t the slow strolling down an arcade, rather a slow scroll down the Facebook newsfeed observing others’ posts. And to be seen, the flaneur can still dress to catch the eye, but it is in the form of a digital image posted online. Ever remaining the same symbol as they were in the old Paris arcades, flaneurs have successfully moved from the streets, to the Facebook network.

Reference list

BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives, and the making of place, week 3 notes [PowerPoint slides]. (2017). Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_2850929_1&course_id=_84764_1&framesetWrapped=true

Barnes, G. (1997). Passages of the Cyber-Flanuer. Retrieved from http://www.raynbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html

Minkel, E. (2012). The Slacker In Modern Fiction: The Flaneur Goes to the Mall [image]. Retrieved from http://www.themillions.com/2012/03/the-slacker-in-modern-fiction-the-flaneur-goes-to-the-mall.html

Prouty, R. (2009). A Turtle on a Leash. Retrieved from http://www.onewaystreet.typepad.com/one_way_street/2009/10/a-turtle-on-a-leash.html