Prosumption - the 21st century reality

How am I a Prosumer? Simply by being an active member of the world in the 21^st century – whether I realise it or not.

The word prosumption according to Ritzer and Jurgenson “involves both production and consumption rather than focusing on either one (production) or the other (consumption) (Ritzer & Jurgenson, 2010).

If we put this into context and relate it directly to the use of Facebook, does this not make all of us prosumers?Within the space of 24 hours, you scroll through thousands of status updates and photo uploads – which makes you a consumer. However, at the same time you are uploading your own statuses, photos and commenting on everything – which makes you a producer.

Image: via Google (link provided)

This left me baffled to say the least because I never really thought about it in that sense. I saw myself as a consumer of Facebook because I would log on to it and use the features that they provide me. But in relation to the definition that Ritzer & Jurgenson provide in the reading, it really makes sense to see yourself as both a consumer of Facebook but at the same time a producer.

Let’s take it further and focus directly on the week 5 topic question: “How I consume and produce my own identity”. Realistically, every individual has created a persona online. Disagree if you must, but we select what we post on Facebook and Twitter – so we manipulate what people perceive of us in the online environment.

In effect, you ultimately consume the identity you put online of yourself and it will (effectively or not) eventually mould your life. That is exactly the realistic approach of consuming your own identity that you produced.

Quite a freaky realisation if you ask me.

Reference List:

Ritzer, G & Jurgenson N, ‘Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’’ Journal of Consumer Culture, 2010, SAGE Publications.

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