It's like I'm a lady... but I'm not.

thenerdwriter:

Vlog #23 - Social Media.

SCRIPT. Oh, sorry—I was only checking the twitter app on my iphone. Someone tweeted me. Actually, if I’m being honest, that was a few minutes ago—now I’m reading the New York Times, an article about the Syrian uprising; really interesting & devastating too, of course. But…actually, that was like a minute ago, or wait, no…man, that was 20 minutes ago. You can, um, really get lost in Temple Run.

If I were a kid age 8-18, these last few minutes would consist only of a small fraction of the average 7 1/2 hours a day that I spend with media. Do I care? Not really. By which I mean that there’s a fat chance that I’m going to stop doing it.

7 1/2 hours—that’s from a study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2009, up about an hour and a half from the same study done in 2004. So I think now, in 2012, it’s safe to say that we’re at least up to 8 hours. Splits the day into nice even thirds, right? 8 hours of the day we sleep, 8 hours of the day we consume media like rabid, hungry wolves, and 8 hours of the day we…what do we do for those other 8 hours?

If you live in LA, it’s probably spent waiting in traffic. 

So what’s to be made of all this. I don’t want to criticize those who spend a lot of time with media, clearly. Your relationship with media, like everything else, is your own affair. But I do think there’s something missing from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s report. Today’s media is social, which means that is consists not only of consumption, but also of expression. And these two things are relentlessly intertwined. Whatever you consume has been expressed by someone else, and whatever you express will be consumed by others. There is a total awareness of this in social media. Facebook & Twitter are not a journals or diaries, whatever you post there is posted with your complete understanding that others will see it, and not only see it, but probably will comment on it, & thus express themselves for your own responsive consumption and so on.

A Facebook status, like a novel or a vlog, is a request for judgement. Any serial tweeter who says he or she doesn’t really care what others think should receive a hearty laugh in the face. Shared expression is the definition of caring what others think! There is such a thing as expression for it’s own sake, but that’s what these are for (diary).

The point is that whatever medium of shared expression you choose will be the medium by which you are asking to be judged. If all we’re getting from you in terms of expression is

Curling up in bed with a salad and a movie until the Grammys start :) Ahh to finally relax feels so nice

Guess crack was a little to whack for Whitney Houston….. She dead….

In on a Saturday night. Man i am a loser

Homemade crab Rangoon :))

You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.

don’t be surprised if you’re treated equally as simple, equally as trite, equally as idiotic. We should never forget or forego the understanding that expression is always difficult, from a conversation to feature film. To do it well takes a measure of composition, of time, and the willingness to improve despite frustrations.

Your social media personality is not you, it’s a performance of you. And maybe for yourself, it’s easy not confuse the difference, but it’s not so easy for all those who see only this performance, and who are disposed in many ways to treat others as stereotypically as they can.

And maybe sometimes you get frustrated, feeling that others don’t understand you, don’t see or respect what you want. Maybe you feel your always coming out of conversations or arguments with your point poorly made. Well, I’ll let you in on a secret:

People who can speak well—to the point & with lucidity—practice.

These people trip up like everyone else, but less often. More times than not they make their point. And come out of even a normal conversation feeling that you have a clearer idea of what they want and who they are.

Not everyone is or has to be an artist. Not everyone has to write a novel or make an album. But there’s something to be said for a little bit of reserve when it comes to expression. That way, you can preserve some of your own mystery, your own subtlety, you can escape some unnecessary judgment, and you can recover the power of your own voice.

 

This is the performance of yourself.