A Craftable Perception

Perception is everything. In others minds, the only figure of me that exists is that of how they perceive me. Reality is completely out of the picture. In today's world of social media, reality is being bent on the daily. Personally, I craft my instagram like my life depends on it. That is not to say I think social media is a good thing, for society or my mental health, but nevertheless, I feel compelled to craft my own online persona to perfection. The parasocial realtionships that form from internet connections are very powerful, and it is easy to make split second judgments straight off of someones instagram. In my own life for example, when I got my roommate assignment my first instinct was to check her instagram. There, I met instagram Rachel and subsequently made plenty of assumptions about her that differ from Real life Rachel. During the months I only knew Instagram Rachel, reality held no weight, that perception was all that existed of her in my world.

I do not think it is healthy for our generation to be

so heavily pressured to create a whole life online. However nice it is nice to "know" what you are getting yourself into when you meet someone, it's value is vastly outweighed by the stress and false judgements that social media causes. Not everyone can craft their public perspective to their own personality, and no one should have to. The dystopian themes explored in Netflix's Black Mirror, show how quickly sincerity can be stamped out when human connection is turned into a numbers game. In the episode "Nosedive" people "know" exactly what they are getting themselves into with everyone's overall "rating", or status, being displayed next to their head at all times. This not only results in misjudgments, it also destroys individuality. Not everyone is meant to be everyone's cup of tea. The characters in the show are forced to craft themselves into the most palatable person they can. In this process of dehumanization, honesty, risk, and difference are all lost. Social media today is obviously not as pervasive to the scary levels displayed in the show, but next time you are gleaning someone's personality based just off their socials, remember: it is just an illusion.

Bye tty soon,

Jordan