Reality is Overrated.

The “new reality” of the digital landscape is more complex than just being a simulation of “reality” (an attempt to reproduce and replace reality, or “an imitation of the real misunderstood as the real”), or a representation of reality like film, tv, etc. media. It isnt trying to be reality—it has created its own culture, it’s own language, it’s own art form, it’s own way of living, and in that way it bleeds into “actual” reality because of how the unique culture(s) of the internet have such a profound impact on human interaction that we carry over much of what we learn and experience online into how we live our lives day to day. the digital realm opens up new possibilities in art that by their very nature cannot exist in physical “ reality,” and that art can carry statements that do not even have a basis in our physical reality, like the photoshop art that is commentary on the development and creation in online programs like photoshop. an avatar is more than just a hyper realistic representation of yourself, and can in and of itself be an art piece. A TV show might carry a representation of our reality or even another one, but it really does not create and inhabit its own world in the same way that the digital world does. Perhaps the direct interactivity and interconnectivity of the internet is a key part of what makes it its own continuously constructed and expanded reality, that more and more feeds into our lives and realities outside of it. It is hard enough to parse how much of TV, movies, radio, books, magazines, etc. is a result of our reality and how much of it directly influences our reality itself (like how war photography and news footage would permanently shift how civilians view and experience conflict around the world). We being our own experiences in reality into the new digital reality, and from there create new experiences that exist on their own plane, which in turn we will keep with us regardless of what reality we are in or interacting with.