In his essay Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “My life is for itself and not for a spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine and equal, than that it should be glittering and unsteady.” I was thinking about this today as it relates to social media.
Emerson wrote those words in 1841, ages before anyone could have anticipated bifurcated lives that social media would foster. But how relevant those words are today!
I don’t engage much on social media anymore. I don’t like the pressure it exerts on us to demonstrate how wonderful and fun and interesting we are. I don’t like the way it makes us think not about enjoying the moments of our lives, but about how those moments will be received and responded to by others.
Social media frequently makes me kind of angry. I think that’s because there is so much potential good in it, but that good is largely squandered. And we are all so unwittingly manipulated into sharing our dreams and fears so companies can find our vulnerabilities and sell us stuff.
I find when I step away from social media, I enjoy life more. I find it possible to exist in a moment without witnessing that moment through an exterior lens.
But I do get joy out of social media. I keep up with dear friends. I learn about new places. I see beautiful art and photography. I follow global events unfolding in real time. So, I don’t think I can abandon it all together. I’m not sure where the happy balance lies, but I’m trying to find it.
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