The Digital Human

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Aleks Krotoski explores the digital world

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The Digital Human: Series 17: Cameo

Cameo

Series 17

BBC Radio 4 - The Digital Human, Series 17, Cameo

Aleks Krotoski explores the tension between storytelling and privacy online.

If all the digital world's a stage, how does it feel to be a bit player in someone else's online narrative?

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

The Digital Human: Series 17

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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