Tuesday, September 22, 2009

#TheArtGallery


The stroke of a key. The power of an exclamation point. The subliminal message behind your all CAPS. The face of the keyboard defines your online reality. Period.

Image is everything, image is key, image is what is apparent to both you and me…..right? But image is not real, image is not the true you, but apparently your online image perfectly describes…. you…..right?

Facebook and Twitter are the two most popular online networks. Facebook started off as a resource for college students to stay in touch with old friends and family. It has now evolved into, not only a public “art gallery” but is the god that created Twitter, an idol that we all are guilty of worshiping and another online “art gallery” that portrays the pieces of art that we create for each other. We paint images of ourselves for others to see and hopefully believe. We try to create a person that we WANT to be, but may not necessarily really be. Putting up a face that pleases every friend/follower, hoping to gain even more friends/followers, hopelessly wanting to be accepted, because online “What you see is what you get," RIGHT? Bragging rights on who has the most followers, is cool…..RIGHT? Must be, because EVERYONE does it....But who is REAL on Facebook and Twitter? How can you tell that the person you constantly RT on Twitter would be the same person, if you spoke to them in person? Or....you say one thing on Twitter/Facebook, but in real life, your actions are contradictory.

"If you knew better, you would do better......."

So ummm, yea......Our generation, unfortunately, has allowed technology to subliminally show us who we are supposed to be, just like the media, and that image is more important than reality and our integrity/character. Show me who you really are, that’s foreign nowadays....We are allowing Facebook/Twitter to define our image, but before these social networks, who were you really? Does that person still even exist? People confuse IMAGE with INTEGRITY.... but they are different. Your integrity is way more important than your image....so why are we so focused moreso on image? We actually need to focus on both and find ways to balance them both, without looking like a complete fake! But most importantly, know who you really are before you try to convince other people of who you are.

Here is a challenge, and how about you RT this: You paint the picture and stop allowing Facebook/Twitter to paint it for you, because “I don’t believe you; you need more people.” (c) Jay Z

*whats the new online lingo....oh yea.....POW!
Signing off……

Monisa Mason

2 comments:

  1. Very nicely written Monisa and very true indeed. So many folks put on fronts for the internet and in turn, begin to lose themselves in the "limelight". It really shouldn't be that hard to just be you.

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