Social (Media) Life by Mark Allan Gunnells

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Social media is a pervasive and powerful phenomenon, with the potential for great good. It is a way to connect. We can become friends with people on the other side of the planet. We can find like-minded people who share our passions. We can find community. The voiceless can finally be heard. Social media can amuse and educate.

But there is a dark side. It can be both addictive and used for abuse. There have been too many horror stories of people attacked and vilified via social media, to the point they take their own lives. Abusers can hide through the anonymity of screen names, which seems to give them license to say and do what they would at least hesitate to do in IRL (in real life).

For Alex, a lonely and socially awkward college student, this dark side can be very dark. Alex is the ugly duckling who has yet to become a swan. He is the dweeb, the nerd, who is “awkward and perpetually unsure of himself … [His] tongue is in a perpetual knot" (4). His adolescence was a painful experience that left him scarred, emotionally and mentally, as well as physically. Alex self-harmed; he was a cutter. Alex came to college, hoping to reinvent himself, to overcome his awkwardness and the memories of high school. He’s an art major. Art is his lifeline; it is what he did well, even if, as his father said, it's the only thing the boy is good at. And he is good at it, which is made evident when of his professors encourages him to exhibit his work.

As luck would have it, his roommate, Xavier, is “an exhibitionist’s dream” (4). He is a handsome athlete, who is seemingly extremely confident. He is what Alex isn’t. Alex is also very attracted to him. Xavier is not. If anything, he finds his loser roommate to be a nuisance. Alex’s efforts to reach out are rejected again and again.

Determined to connect with the beautiful Xavier, Alex creates a new self online, a persona, College.Boy.Artist, Xander. As Xander, Alex begins to exhibit his work online, including Xander’s portrait. He “Frankensteined” the portrait from bits and pieces of others. It works. He gets noticed. Xavier notices.

So it begins. He learns that Xavier is not just a stereotypical joke; he is a poet. He—Xander—and Xavier develop an online friendship, a flirtatious one. Alex knows this is wrong but he can’t stop. Xavier continues to reject him in real life. He starts cutting himself again.

Things snowball, and Alex finds himself trapped. Is there a way out? Can Alex break away from the persona that has almost seems to be independent of him? Has his “Frankensteining” been too effective? Can he tell Xavier the truth?

Then Xander acts on his own.

This dark and disturbing tale is a parable, a warning. Social media is, in itself, neutral. It is how it is used wherein the danger lies.

Well done.

Recommended.





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