When I first started this series, I set out to show a more imperfect me, one that hardly shows up in the virtual world. I mean, be real, how many of us take bad photos and say “That’s my new profile pic!” I tried to explain how our Facebook virtual lives often create a representative for our true selves. Those representatives then choose our best picture as our Facebook profile pic which becomes the face that our Facebook friends know. Our status becomes the life story we are telling to our Facebook world and the pictures we post are the proof that that Facebook life exists.
I don’t want to come across as being a Facebook hater, in fact, I do really like Facebook. And I should clear up it isn’t just Facebook that creates these representatives, it’s all social media, Facebook is just the Queen Bee whose hive I’m poking at at the moment.
When I set out on this journey, it was because I saw things that social media does to our society that I didn’t like it. Then today, I came across this, the exact idea I was trying to convey when I began down my Road to an Imperfect Life… or so I thought.
(Watch. And then we’ll discuss)
I watched this video and thought sarcastically, “Jeez… anyone can make their life awesome.”
And then I changed the tone and the emphasized word and said optimistically, “Jeez… anyone can make their life awesome.”
On Facebook, to make your life sound awesome all you need is a few changes in word choice and punctuation. Type. Proofread. Edit. Revise. Insert sarcasm. Rethink word choice. Reread. Hmm. How does that sound? Click post. Post. Edit post. Fix. Re-post. Done. Bingo. Awesome. I’m awesome.
And while you can construct the perfect update, it takes more than key jabbing to construct an awesome life that transcends virtual reality.
See there’s another side that I overlooked when I set out on this road. While words and punctuation and filtered pictures help make your Lifestory seem awesome, those are not the things that actually make it awesome. It isn’t so much what you do as it is how you look at what you do.
If we look at our everyday moments and find them to be in major need of a filter than what we get are dull images. So this week, instead of showcasing my imperfections, I want to highlight the normal, a small moments in a day where nothing exceptionally fabulous happens. A micro-moment that maybe wouldn’t otherwise make it t o our Facebook pages because they’re not glamorous enough or fancy enough or bad ass enough (or so we think). And what a mistake that is; thinking that these little scenes aren’t “enough” when, in fact, it is the small scenes that create the whole act that when linked together tell the whole story. They become the glue that holds it all together and we all know that without glue, there can’t possibly be the sparkle of glitter. It is the glue that remains, the glue that binds and those are the moments that will remain when my Facebook account is virtual ash.
Picture Credits:
Captain Jack Sparrow (adapted by DTWB)
Jennifer Legra
Hey Julia! Thanks for visiting. And thanks for your comment. I wholeheartedly agree with your last statement (about FB possibly ALSO being a catalyst for getting us to do cool things) and actually started thinking about that exact idea when I was writing this post but decided to take on that idea at a alter time. Thanks for sharing.
Julia
I to think its so important to be real. It doesn't help anyone to pretend we are something we are not and it just sets unreasonable expectations for the rest of us. As far as Facebook… it is what we make it. Im very selective about who I friend on Facebook and I try and keep it just to the people who really love me so that I don't have to feel like I have to filter so much. I do try and only post the positive because its not really in our nature to announce to the world when things suck. That is usually meant to be told face to face or over a phone call. That kind of stuff is more private, don't you think? I do think that Facebook makes us all want to go out and do something more interesting and Facebook-post-worthy though, and that can be a good thing. 🙂 -Great post, very thought provoking!