It has been widely reported that British singer, Lily Allen, has decided to de-activate all of her social networking profiles (Twitter, MySpace etc) because she believes she has become addicted to the phenomenon. Many press photographs of her over the last couple of years have usually shown her with a PDA of some description, updating her profiles.
However, the initial explanation for this was that Allen used MySpace to promote her music when she first started out. This is done by a lot of musicians wanting to get their singles noticed. But for Allen, and many others, it appears that their use of digital devices and social networks has taken over their lives.
So, for many of her fans, Lily Allen will not be as visible any more – but as her music is known widely and critically acclaimed, she has perhaps used these forums as much as she has needed to. It is interesting to hear about ‘celebrities’ admitting their over-use of social networks, or the internet and digital devices in general. It has brought more attention to this issue, as an individual must balance their existence in the digital and real world.
