The truth about social networking

I was going through all my friends’ snapstories on one very lazy evening. I had a very long day, I had classes and then I attended a friend’s birthday party. The first thing I did getting home was take a shower and have my dinner, with my phone in my hand, of course. It was a habit.

Now, tapping through my friends’ snapstories of one hundred seconds felt endless. They all presented the different events that took place in the birthday party. There were close friends, music, friends hanging out and of course, dancing. Well, all these were done with everyone’s’ phones in their hand.

‘Did you see Drew’s sick moves on the floor? He’s killing it!’

‘Oh my god! Wait, let me take my phone out.’

‘But won’t you come join him? Come on. Drop your phone for a moment. We’re all dancing.’

‘You’ll thank me for the photos later.’

In my opinion, keeping records of moments are great. Facebook has made it easier, and there are also so many other options. I was born in the new millennial, I never actually knew what life was like before these social networks existed. Our entire lives, at least the important events, are put up online. Our memories are displayed to everyone. And by everyone, I am including the people who really know you, and also the hundred or so others whom you are only acquainted with.

If there was an absence of the snapstories and Facebook updates, the birthday party would actually not be known by people who were not present at the party. It would be private.

Now, before I go on, I know there are people who like to live in the moment, genuinely take in the events occurring. The conversation you have just read between the boy and the girl at the party, doesn’t it make you wonder whether we really are present at the moment? We are physically present there. But are we participating?

 I’ve once had friends who had more updates about their hangouts than the actual moments they’ve had. It seemed okay to put up photos sometimes, but I found it futile to do it continually.

What brought me to this realization? This discernment didn’t approach me gradually, but rather it was like a swift bolt that hit me one day. I was all about sharing different content I liked online. So many people who I vaguely knew had a glimpse of what I was like. All the ‘likes’ only fed my ego. But who really knew me?

I felt the need to post photos of myself, or parties I went to, food I had for dinner or lunch to paint my life the way I wanted to see it rather than what it actually was. And it’s a competition. Everyone is doing it. All our posts are shouting that we are unique, we’re different from each other, we‘re one of a kind. But go through all our profiles. We’re all pretty much doing the same thing.

The truth is it’s all good to keep contact with your friends online, friends from high school, cousins who’ve moved away, etc. But with the arrival and development of social networks came the negligence of intellect, making a connection with someone on a non-virtual level, the reflection of who we are as a person instead of our digital reflection. If you look at humans in general, we are all consumed, more or less by the assertiveness we gain from social networking.

As times are changing so is technology. Social networks have given us uncountable benefits. But we cannot let ourselves be defined by our digital persona, and to do that we have to come to the realization that social network is only a trivial part of our lives, and that our lives do not revolve around it.