AKA: the gap between

in philosophy •  7 years ago 

We all have many facets to who we are, many sides that make us, us. Depending on the circumstances and who we are with, we show different sides and usually, we broadcast parts of us we want people to see. This means that we hide parts that we want to keep from view.

The internet has thrown new levels of complication into this mix over the last couple decades as it engineers environments and we tend to adjust ourselves based on the platform we act upon, or the people we think are there with us.

We know that places like Facebook and Instagram carry with it a lot of false positive information, I am not talking in a scientific sense now. A lot of people post their highlights of life and skip over the rest. Others however post their low-lights. The reason is the same of course, attention seeking.

I wonder though that if it was possible to overlay these various life views atop each other like one of those medical encyclopedias with the clear if the sum total would give a good representation of who we really are. I would assume not as I don't think most people are as even with their online content as they tend to believe. I do think that it would give an interesting view of our individual lives though as it would create quite a broad picture.

Imagine if that broad picture of yourself from all of those various platforms were sent to some experimental science lab and combined into a Frankenstein human version. Would it be recognisable as you?

How would it look, talk, behave? Would Internet Frankenstein You be a decent human, would you like IFY?

I was thinking about this in the morning and trying to intuit the differences between how 'I' and 'Internet I' see the world and whether I am happy with the variation. It is not that the differences are necessarily so profound as for the most part, I think and feel that the representation is relatively consistent to me but, I cannot know if that is in fact, fact.

What is interesting however are the complications that arise when there are conflicts within us, the hypocrisy between who we want to be and how we act every day, what we want to believe and how often we go against those very beliefs. These conflicts create a lot of pressure on how we see and experience ourselves and lead to a lot of psychological problems and if left to their own devices, can be very harmful to others and ourselves.

I wonder how much these differences between online persona and the known reality are driving the seemingly endless rise in depression and psychological disorders. It is a hard life telling people everything is beautiful across all platforms and then living a reality of feeling disconnected, alone and trapped.

If you went back and looked at your last year of what you have offered the internet, does it really provide any reality to who you actually are or, is it an idealistic view, skewed by how you want friends, family and strangers to view you?

Something to think about at least.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]

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It is true that people create a different version of themselves on the Internet, frankly I don't know how they manage that. When someone who knows the Internet version, meets the real version, how does the person feel about having been lied to deliberately.

it is a social lie that is accepted. Both parties feign ignorance.

If we take the social media to be a swing and we as children know the swing screaming 'mama look at me! See how high I can go!' it might make some sense.

The social media is really an attention seeking platform and to get the attention we so desire everyone has to be fluent in exaggerating things whether positively or negatively. We have to do this because the social media gives you the impression that is all about you; likes, comments, follows, share. But the truth is no one really cares, we actually liking, commenting, following and sharing ourselves. As a result we want the best us out there; the best dressed, well fed, happy us. We are focused on ourselves only.

There is this Beyonce's song Pretty Hurts that I feel applies in a certain sense to how we are on social media. We smile, we take selfies, we bask in the adulations of our followers but are we happy?

For at the end of the day, when your phone and laptop powers down and you are alone in your room, do you feel happiness within you? Are you happy with were you are in your life?

We will never know anyone fully especially the people we meet on social media.

Yeah you're right , internet didn't provide me any reality or real pleasure .
It's addiction just made me sick and sick and took my lots of valuable time and still taking.
Especially social sites are worst things ever coz they will make you a social mental internet addicted animal. If you look at Facebook that
people got thousands of friends , fans, followers but in real life no one don't give fuck. This really a cruel thing. It's true that virtualization don't have any value in reality . We should realize this. We are spending extra time on internet except our families, friends and real life. It's time to stop being a internet addicted . Everyone should ask to himself/herself as @tarazkp said "If you went back and looked at your last year of what you have offered the internet, does it really provide any reality to who you actually are or, is it an idealistic view, skewed by how you want friends, family and strangers to view you?"
Thank you sir for remind this, Just loved your article.
God bless you.

Really interesting post. As I read it I was wondering if you had read Goffman, "The Presentation of Self?" He talks about how we present ourselves in different social contexts. We present ourselves differently at work, than at home and with family. The internet has definitely aggravated divergent representations of self, but a case could be made it’s not new phenomena. One thing I think has really taken off in a way that wasn't present before is personal branding. Given the nature of the economy, we all are told we need a brand. However, the rate at which opportunities emerge and disappear means these brands are highly unstable. For me this is one of the most alienating elements of how we live today. I find myself often crafting identities that in truth have no value or meaning to me whatsoever. I think you've definitely hit on my Social Media is regarded as the new smoking in terms of health impacts.
https://theroamingmind.com/2017/03/06/social-media-is-the-new-smoking/

Pretending to be others and engaging with others we know are presenting only a particular form of themselves deliberately is exhausting and creates a deep sense of "placelessness."

No, I have never read it (or heard of it) but that is not really a surprise.

Pretending to be others and engaging with others we know are presenting only a particular form of themselves deliberately is exhausting and creates a deep sense of "placelessness."

Yes, it is a cruel game as one is continually provided small feedback wins while slowly lead into becoming lost.

  ·  7 years ago Reveal Comment

Leave me alone.

Spammers are increasing since last 3 days...Donno why

Because people aren't flagging them enough and people are rewarding nothing comments. From now on, people must write something directly related or they get nothing as a best case scenario.

excuse me sir i am not spammer
so please think before write

Your comments section tells otherwise.

I am doing all these writers for the excitement

so writer thinking good or inspiring

You are failing. There is nothing less inspiring than having people comment on the work who have obviously not even taken the time to read it. there is no way that you are able to read the content you are commenting on at the speed at which you are commenting. This is the definition of Spam comments.

Stop or the flags are going to get bigger and I will not limit them to just the ones on my posts.

You are the exact definition of a spammer. Do you even realize what you are doing?