There have been almost too many websites to name in the past decade that have encouraged our society to indulge in their inner narcissism. MySpace called for not only impeccable yet basic coding skills, but good taste in music and selective rankings in viral friendships. Facebook was the more evolved, simplistic version of MySpace that eventually became just as much of a nuisance.
With the introduction of Twitter and Instagram, platforms that allow you to divulge just how interesting our non-interesting lives are to strangers and friends alike, our culture is encouraging the art of sharing with total strangers. The consequence of oversharing is yet to be seen, but the benefits of it have yet to either.
Something all of these platforms of past and present have in common is one thing: we used them because we believed we were interesting enough to be interested in.
On a scale of one to Kanye, this may be the milder version of narcissism, but an appropriate deduction nonetheless. A sobering truth we must come to terms with is that the release we feel when we write that witty, less-than-140 word tweet to the masses is a notch under our ego. It’s a subtle notch that validates that little nagging insecurity in the back of our minds that wonders whether people care about how we feel – what we’re doing. Even the mildest of tweeters and instagrammers have to agree that those pictures they post of their fifth meal of the day or that quote from an indie film no one knows nor cares about is just as bad as the video model who floods your timeline with pictures from that photo shoot she paid for – a concept in this grade of “modeling” I will never understand. Yet we choose to put ourselves on a pedestal that raises us above the debauchery of the rest based on the content and how much of it we post, but why?
Unfortunately, diagnosing insecurity with overcompensating for your empty life via social networking is not a proper method to solving the deeper issue at hand: any life worth living doesn’t have time to be documented every five minutes.
Every thought worth thinking often times is better left unsaid.
The world will not stop spinning if any of us stop tweeting and that concert going on right in front of you will be much more enjoyable if you put your phone down. Now I’m not suggesting that we all stop documenting moments in our lives, but we must stop feeling as if every moment needs to be shared – for what? The moment should not hold less value if it doesn’t receive over ten likes, but our youth is more concerned with who’s following rather than whose leading. We steal tweets on twitter for retweets and troll celebrities until they respond – or block us – to bask in a superficial glory received room swallowed in darkness, lit only by the glare of our recent accomplishments from our cellphone.
The latest topic in the world of social networking that could potentially solve this problem is both Twitter and Instagram’s alleged discussions of getting rid of the follower counts on both of their platforms. What would these websites be like if we freed ourselves from the bondage of the painful decision of whether a person was worth following based on how many people are following them? The root of the validation seeking would either come to a screeching halt, or people would find new ways to feel good about themselves. While the former and the latter would encourage innovation and progression as a collective, I am not sure if we would truly understand, or appreciate, why getting rid of these numbers would be good for all of us.
Peace of mind is not even a befitting term for how liberated I felt when I got rid of my top ten on my MySpace. I stole the code from a UK hipster girl’s page – a trick I honed so well you’d think I created it myself – and finally enjoyed the essence of what MySpace was truly meant for in its stripped form: to show your personality, your interests, yourself to people who would appreciate it. That self might have a diverse taste in music and a simplistic preference in page layouts, but it was still an impression of me I wanted my profile viewers to leave my page with.
To this day, I still translate my minimalist preference in layout pages through my everyday wardrobe and decorative style for my dorm. I’m rarely seen wearing colors that are not blue, white, beige, black or green, and I have no desire to change that because that is who I am. If our social networks are supposed to be an extension of us, we should all keep that in mind every time we try to post something with the intent to impress; just be you.