Our Virtual Shadow

On a rainy drive up the Northern California coast, author Damon Brown almost hit a woman who walked in front of his car while typing on her phone. The experience, and many other cultural observations, got him thinking about a key question about our modern social media-driven lives: How do we resolve the conflict between documenting our lives through tweets, Facebook updates, and Instagram photos, among others, and actually be present? Brown dubs our new documenting-focused lives a...
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On a rainy drive up the Northern California coast, author Damon Brown almost hit a woman who walked in front of his car while typing on her phone. The experience, and many other cultural observations, got him thinking about a key question about our modern social media-driven lives: How do we resolve the conflict between documenting our lives through tweets, Facebook updates, and Instagram photos, among others, and actually be present? Brown dubs our new documenting-focused lives a "virtual shadow,” which he describes as “a collected narrative that, like a physical shadow, is symbolic of where our real selves have been, albeit a few steps behind.” The problem, he observes, is that many of us are prioritizing our virtual shadow over our real lives. In Our Virtual Shadow: Why We Are Obsessed with Documenting Our Lives Online, Brown calls upon personal experiences, pop culture observations, and a history evidence surrounding our relationship with both public and private means of communication. Ultimately, Brown offers lessons about using social media tools while also teaching us how to stay present in our real lives.