The Digital Human - Cameo

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Social media is about stories, and what's more interesting - to you at least - than telling your own?

When you post, you're building a narrative: this is who I am and this is what I like.

You're creating your very own movie, pulling in a range of characters. Then you've got stage sets and let's not forget the bit parts; those people who dip in and out of your life and provide endless story fodder.

But what happens when you discover that it's you who has in fact been cast in the cameo role in someone else's social media story?

We hear from the unwitting extras: from the seat mates on a plane caught in a publicity storm after a woman posted about the apparent beginning of their great romance, to a man who helped his neighbour and ended the subject of her tweets.

So what does this mean for personal autonomy, having a voice, and the limits of the stories we can or should tell online? Does the digital world blur the boundaries between what stories are yours to tell?

Aleks Krotoski explores the tension between entitlement and a feeling of voicelessness.

Producer: Caitlin Smith

Published on Monday, 24th June 2019.

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