Current Doctor Who Warns Against Facebook

judgecorp writes "Matt Smith, the current actor playing Doctor Who, doesn't use Facebook or Twitter, despite his geek icon status. He worries that social media encourages us to create "surrogate versions" or "celebrity versions" of ourselves. He also, arguably, doesn't need their help, being a celebrity already. Smith made the comments in St Petersburg, where he hosted the final of Microsoft's Imagine Cup for student inventors, won this year by a British team with a mesh music-playing application."

Comments

Does anyone care?

[redmid17]

Use it or don't. Plenty of celebrities fall on both sides of the fence. Some love their privacy. Some embrace the public light and social media for all it's worth. This doesn't need to be a slashdot post.

Re:Does anyone care?

[Sponge Bath]

Some love their privacy

Davros (Revelation of the Daleks, Pt.2): You can not steal what already has been abandoned.

Surrogate versions? Andy Warhol said it best.

[MisterSquid]

He worries that social media encourages us to create "surrogate versions" or "celebrity versions" of ourselves.

Creating a surrogate or celebrity version of oneself is precisely the point of Facebook. It is a version of the self that can be exchanged through a social medium with others. That "surrogate" self can be be cited, exalted, devalued, and circulated. It's "celebrity" for people who don't necessarily have access to major media channels and networks of people to promote a traditional media celebrity self.

Everyone's gonna get their 15 minutes.

The question, to my mind, is why Matt Smith believe this is any different than the media that have made a surrogate version of him.

Re:Surrogate versions? Andy Warhol said it best.

[jbeaupre]

I believe the term surrogate here is being used to mean substitute. As in abandoning ones real personality and substituting one created in social media.

In the past, it was accepted for some people to have stage names (or nom de plume). It was a way to separate work from private life. The stage name could go with an invented personality. Sometimes it was a character name that became associated with an actor. They could ham it up, then go home. It only got weird when someone permanently became the caricature they created.

With traditional media, that was limited and controlled. Not many people had reasons for stage names, and when and where they had to use it was easier to define. And the true wackos (unless it was matched by great talent) were sidelined.

With social media, everyone is creating a stage name. And blurring the lines of when they are using it. They spend huge amounts of time polishing the image they project. They use it as a substitute for real interactions with other human beings. For some, it becomes a warped substitute for their actual personality, which they neglect. Not for everyone, but all to many people.

As the actor playing the Doctor, Matt has seen some of the pressure to become the surrogate personality. To become the Doctor 24/7. He believes social media increases that pressure. So he's opted out of social media. And he's suggesting that others would benefit from opting out too. Not because there isn't anything to be gained, but because creating and becoming a surrogate personality is not worth it.

Finding old friends

[kannibal_klown]

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of Facebook or Twitter either. I DO think they have their uses, such as Facebook finding old friends you lost touch with years ago and to be hang-outs for fans and clubs and whatever. And some Twitter feeds are quite useful, giving news or humorous anecdotes.

But yeh, I've seen what Matt Smith is talking about. People exaggerate how "into" something they are, yet I know them in real life and the cause / sport / whatever they claim to be so into.... they maybe spend one weekend a year doing.

And some twitter rants: they just forward something they heard on Twitter and feel it's the truth, when you dig past the onion layers and find out it's not. But, I read it on Twitter Umm, good for you? That doesn't make it true.

Re:Duh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you Captain Obvious.

That's Doctor Obvious.

Re:Unfortunately, not all of us have that choice..

[kannibal_klown]

You see, THAT annoys me.

Personally I stay off Facebook. I made some dummy account years back just because I was unsuccessfully try to find an old friend I'd lost touch with. It's still there gather dust, I have ZERO friends on it and no posts since the day it was created like 3 years ago.

I'm in IT and I know people that feel the same way, they don't want to bother with the fake socialization or post stuff out there linked to their real name for the whole world to see. I have 10 years of experience behind me and a Masters in Computer Science. If that's not enough to show I'm in the IT field then it's a sad state of the field that someone with 1 year of experience and a FaceBook account would get preference.

Re:Duh.

[TWX]

Doctor who?

Seems pretty geeky

[Sheik Yerbouti]

I know tons of geeks who eschew social media so I think it actually gives him geek cred.

not surprising

[slashmydots]

I noticed that a ton of IT students at my college don't use Facebook. And it wasn't some hippie fine arts college or something with people bringing typewriters in to be ironic, it's a low cost public one. So I researched it and in the #1 most likely demographics to use Facebook, the least likely group within it is IT professionals. I have a feeling we're all on to something, as I don't use it either.

Re:Matt, wake up.

[Jmc23]

Not everybody lies. It's what makes some of us 'socially'' awkward.

Despite?!

[Cajun Hell]

[someone] doesn't use Facebook or Twitter, despite his geek icon status.

Emphasis mine. That's like saying someone doesn't smoke, despite being a doctor.

Re:The Doctor

[TWX]

In everyone else's defense, they've been terribly inconsistent about the "the Doctor" versus "Doctor Who" throughout the show's 50 years. There was an era when the license plate on a vehicle of the Doctor's was "WHO", and the credits have occasionally listed the actor as "Doctor Who" as opposed to "the Doctor". Then there was the overemphasis on the question mark throughout at least Peter Davison's and Colin Baker's years, and that might have extended into the Sylvester McCoy years, can't remember for certain.

In my opinion, the 1996 TV movie that everyone claims to abhor has a lot more in common with the modern show than it does with the original run. It's almost like we needed a scapegoat for the change to be accepted, like how the George Lazenby James Bond movie is less well received even though one could argue that it's a much more coherent story than many of the other movies...

Re:Duh.

[war4peace]

Funny as it sounds, I read the title as "Doctor, who warns against Facebook" - so I read on thinking it was about an actual doctor warning against Facebook for some weird health reason.
So it should have sounded as "Current Doctor Who who warns..." :)

Re:Title should be 'Actor Currently Playing...'

[camperdave]

Hah. I watched it when it was first broadcast.

Did you tape it by any chance? I'm missing a few episodes.

Re:Don't use non-MS products

[Endovior]

The tinfoil is strong with this one.

Re:Title should be 'Actor Currently Playing...'

[Holi]

Hah, I am watching it when it was first broadcast.

Re:Title should be 'Actor Currently Playing...'

[LoRdTAW]

My problem is it feels like the writers shoehorned the characters in to appeal to the gay community. It is said that Dr. Who is very popular among the gay population as the character of the Dr is indifferent to things like religion, race, sex, etc. He is always on the side of good, he fights for everyones rights. So they jumped on that train and awkwardly shoved gay characters into the story.

Its so in your face that it feels fake which ruins the story.