Remember the times when landlines still existed, privacy rights were not sold and our lives didn’t revolve around documenting every minute of it? Well, most people will not understand what I’m talking about.
Social Media has taken over our personal lives completely. We spend every waking minute updating our lives on several different platforms. Pictures on Instagram, state of mind on Facebook, quick shower thoughts on Twitter, a good selfie on Snapchat and long-conversation-spanning-over-days on Whatsapp. We’ll do anything and everything, unless it goes against your own morals, simply to get noticed.
If you’ve read the morning news in the international section, you’ll see a piece on how a Youtube prankster cemented his head in an oven to make a video. The firefighters spent over an hour rescuing him while he breathed through an air-tube which his friends managed to supply somehow.
The firefighters were clearly not impressed but as reported by The Guardian, the Youtuber called Jay Swingler, told BBC News,
“The idea behind this video was to create this reaction. And, mission success, man. There is no such thing as bad publicity in my opinion.”
Another incident that came to my mind when I read this was the Iranian teenager who claimed to have undergone 50 surgeries to look like Angelina Jolie.
The pictures were NOT pretty, but exactly the opposite.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcIX7WNnUPd/?taken-by=sahartabar_offcial
She later revealed that she herself photoshopped the images as she believes it is “a way to express yourself”. So the viral news about Zombie Angeline Jolie was all just a hoax.
It’s not just these foreigners who go to various lengths to gain publicity on the internet. If you venture into our home-ground India, you will find these people here too.
I mean, remember the video about ‘Kamlesh’? A 13-year-old kid from Delhi was suffering from substance abuse and the documentary made on it became meme content for most of us.
https://www.facebook.com/541060896240775/photos/basw.AbqlJBdqXd8m3FxAPalvsreUvDSjjHcNW07Bs_yi7QiMT329UyAhl-XQq34jMYp7CHnmIE2KYedICNc02bo5euefglS5-esrfadOJyNxy_-2sEl8gtjWO3n4qQDIgVq4PjHH-01lkX3PKJdxN3E5JboCvBbbixibTcP9xMy1HtPkPA.1260808660691918.242614366120767.569829340025607.1138816212888260.303256096840888.541104032903128.909923795837134.313976538984549.1476739689042438/541104032903128/?type=1&opaqueCursor=AbpakUiJY3xiDhu9lvml-Op-w1Cx-e0LMmXNb5HPdTleajsAqlR8AM7ux0gabtvnE_4p2Kd8OzqKbBUlAu7ojotTcykStbANGsmI0aHPQ_WusR4vfFCo6pAh7-1Mo_0K2Rbikmcl_Xbj-zpv8Hzi1Wat8MILDmJ5MU1ejVlQFdSmAKFadS5UDpYYYsd34YtiKXsKEJzN0czVfqXO8ukjT646Cdz5n7-EdQvz8XHbgENlo_q1xZY3HSvzrVAXnWWtsIZ8T9mViPPIFks0VBJZHvTCK4eNNi_B-t9bckD3GYDx4w5TKYnodmgRFmlyDJWQ2gJi2m1Cy_ftxd_rTgR7peEFp1a5FyOh9_VG475trmQwaUtERzPnIQSpWx73AzfG0ejZzHhw–SLYwCR907TUsIIzSWOlaMNhijJdvkUYjgJGGuDAA7fBvPcQXsICtIyytTQTrIWpV-sxZgeKDucu2xX28hWER0W66HXvE911GnH5EnGMrQeCsrEGB0Ic4QpJLRAnV7w35d9iM0o-EYUmd1GMqU_eUazmpGKTHY_It05BDiUQT_MEgzB-nqTbFvoNHGSOWiiCr-OZ4JGjcSq2HI0Il2u58KLE2H9MjxQo-Gs4a8BptTMneEyEe-gGtlOEWI&theater
If you haven’t joked about it, you have laughed at the jokes made by others about it. Sure, the jokes are funny, the memes are hilarious. But what is the point of it all?
This brings me to my question – What lengths are we willing to go to in order to get noticed on social media?
The YouTuber risked his life, the teenage Iranian received so much hate and criticism, the severity of Kamlesh’s problems and many like him have been reduced to a joke. How then, do we aspire to grow as a generation? When everything is treated as a joke and people who speak up need to “learn to take a joke”, how are we ever going to progress?
Forget about progress for once, and let’s talk about our own individual selves.
We post pictures to get likes and make memes hoping it will become viral. We document our sadness on social media because tragedy sells and we want attention. Our self-confidence depends on the number of likes and comments on social media posts.
And on days when we do not get enough of social validation, we feel worthless, we’re filled with self-doubt and our self-esteem hits the lowest note. So we are driven to do other things just for attention.
It all boils down to just one thing – how much are you willing to alter yourself or harm yourself to seek social validation?
Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud.
Food for thought.