Dearest Reader,
Imagine a drone hovering over the earth. This drone has the most hi-tech HD camera ever manufactured or thought of, built into it. This drone tours the earth, taking different snaps and shots of the scenery of the earth. What do you think it will capture? What will be the scenes that this fascinating piece of technology fluttering through the sky would realize?
In one word, what would you think the pictures will look like? Monotonous? Hueless? Colourful? Insipid? Diverse? Moot? Dour? Variance?
Even from that distance, the world would not be a one-way street. The contrasting and undulating terrains of the earth and her people will contribute to the intrigue of how things are going to look like. Complexions. Textures. The blend of it all. That is what makes a picture interesting.
Imagine an artist at work, without hues. Imagine that the art is the same as the background. Imagine that he pays no attention to light and dark. He just uses the same strokes of the same colours of the same hues all over his canvas. How then can someone differentiate between the canvas and the art?
Controlled contrast is the beauty of life. Everyone knows this. Even the doctor as he injects dyes during the process of undertaking his surgery. The movie producer knows this too. Some colours in certain scenes can mar or improve a scene, hence there need to be balanced so that the scene can be comfortable to the eye.
Diversity is the beauty of our world. Everyone in their own little ways differs from the others. If we were all same, life will become tasteless. The fact that there is a “disagreement” is what makes us unique. It is not a point of deviation, rather it is in this disagreement that we create an ensemble. Every facet of life and living is what makes life bearable. No one should be made to conform to another’s pattern, except the person is harmful to the existence and continuance of society, before they can be accepted in life.
Social Media is one of the most important inventions of recent times. No matter what people are saying about the negative impact on our generation, a plethora of issues has been improved by social media. Interactions, specifically, have been greatly improved. Ease and speed are very important features that the introduction of social media has brought to our doorsteps. We can easily talk to people from afar; people worlds apart can easily have access to information. The proximity between people has been bridged, even though they rarely see eye to eye.
We cannot forget in a hurry the impact of social media during the pandemic. We kept abreast with how things were going on in distant parts of existence. We were taught to sympathise, form a bond and forge ahead. Numerous stories abound, like that of Khaby Lame, where social media has been a source of financial independence for a teeming population of youths, hence we must stay “woke” and not be deceived. The impact and importance of social media cannot be overemphasized.
Yet, there is an issue with how some of us have portrayed social media. Social media, which is a tool that is supposed to be made to conform to fit the needs and desires of the particular individual that is using it, has been changed from that. Personalities have to now be changed for someone to be accepted into the community. Hence, there is a shocking difference between a person’s online presence to their actual selves.
While this can be understandably so, since people can be more expressive online than they would actually be in real life, with the pressure of eye contact, body gesticulations, political or societal correctness, and so on, it is expedient that this is solely based on the choice of the particular individual and not necessarily on the unconscious dictates of the majority of social media users.
There has been a sort of monotony on social media. It has been made to become a bit “extrovert-ish”. Everyone needs to conform to this medium of doing things for them to be accepted. Recruiting agencies now go through a person’s social media profile to glean off their personalities. If someone is not putting themselves out there and being in touch with certain social media trends, they are not necessarily considered as street smart.
The Introvert is therefore forced to start thinking up ways away from their comfort zones and norms, trying out things that are a total deviation from who they are, being people that they detest, so they can make it into the acceptable culture of the media. It is in this that there has become an issue.
Studies are ongoing, supporting the claim that certain personality traits, like being an introvert and being reserved, stem from the fact that such a person has been abused in some way or made to not express themselves as much as they wanted to earlier in life. Abuse can obviously cause a lasting impact on the minds of an individual. Physical, emotional or sexual abuse can be really damaging to the progress and development of an individual, hence they are not to be taken lightly.
While this is so, personality traits are peculiar, and without any form of abuse, not everyone should be an extrovert. No one should be made uncomfortable because of the fact that they are not outgoing or do not want to express their opinions willy-nilly, or partake in comedies and Tiktok. There might not be the desire or the need. Based on the intellectual capacity and inclinations of certain individuals, what one finds funny is different from another, what one finds interesting might be different from another. Everyone must be left to be who they are, on social media and not be forced to comply with a rule or set of rules that validate their presence online.
If this is not done, our drone, attached with an HD camera will fly up in the sky, but this time over the social media space. In one word, this is what the pictures will look like. Monotonous. Hueless. Insipid. Moot. Dour.
Bye for now,
Alexis.
