This isn't a post slagging off social media, especially when I spend half of my life on it anyways instead it's a post about the effect social media has on me that effects my MH and choices I make. You may think that I'm talking a load of crap but bear with me on this matter whilst I explain further, on social media it can be a struggle to get seen and I don't mean this in a craving attention kind of way I mean when it comes to getting traffic to go to your blog or even Instagram, we base our success on what other people think of us or if they like our content which is understandable because if we put out crappy content we won't get that traffic we need. After watching an episode of Black Mirror called Nosedive, it really starting to occur to me how much I care what others think of me on social media and how this changes the way I post across social media.
The episode I'm talking about is the life of a woman named Lacie living in a world of eye implants (devices that connect to your everyday life) and mobile devices, in this world there is an app people use which shares their everyday life and people rate them on it, most of the shit they share is bullshit and fake, to be honest, Lacie has a rating of 4.2 but wants to reach 4.5 to get a discount on an apartment, you see the higher the rating there more oppitunities you get in life and in order to do this Lacie had to fake it until she made it. Lacie speaks to a consultant who gave her advice on how to raise her rating and suggests that maybe she can get a higher rating with the help of someone else who has a higher rating, Lacie gets thinking and decides to take a picture of Mr. Rags who is a that her and a girl from her childhood made together when they were little.
Lacie was living a life of unhappiness to please others just so she can get perks in life, at the end of the day it's all just fake people should like us for who we are not what we have or how many followers we have.
This girl (Naomi) see's the picture and rates it 5 stars then calls her to tell Lacie about her engagement and asks Lacie to become her Maid of Honour, Lacie finally had her in with the ratings and instantly says yes as she knew it would boost her rating past 4.5 and because of this Lacie ends up committing to the apartment she had her eye on. Unfortunately for Lacie things don't go as planned and each time she does something negative someone rates her lower bringing her rating down to a 2.0 eventually, on the day of the wedding Naomi tells her not to bother coming because Lacie's rating is far too low and it will bring her ratings down if she comes, but Lacie is determined to make it, she has gone out of her way to get to the wedding and everything has gone wrong so she wants to make her Maid of Honour speech and she does! People try to stop her but she grabs a knife trying to finish the speech but doing so her rating has dropped to 0 it was over for poor Lacie and she was taken to prison, whilst in prison she argues with a man who had also been stripped of his rating and they begin to realise how amazing it feels to speak freely without worrying how others will rate them.
The thing that stood out to me most about the end of that episode was how good Lacie felt being able to speak her true feelings, why should we sugar coat how we really feel, there are so many users across social media and just because a few aren't accepting of our honesty or the fact that social media is no longer our life doesn't mean that we should have to mask who we are. I do get in arguments on Twitter but you know what, sometimes things have to be said and you can't just pretend that a situation that is unraveling in front of you is acceptable, those who are your friends and stop talking to you because you are honest about them upsetting you with their behaviour are the problem and not you for wanting them to know, it can be hard to pick up tone online because we say it how we see it and sometimes it's not the same as the person who actually said it. I think one of my traits is the ability, to be honest with someone over the way they have made me feel, if that person isn't accepting or just wants to mask it then off to the bin they can trot, you don't need friends like that in your life. What I loved about Nosedive was that it was honest, she was determined to go to her so-called friends wedding but in the end she saw that the way they saw her didn't matter anymore because it was all fake, masked over and they weren't really friends in the first place if that's how she treated her.
I get upset when I see someone indirecting me, it may not be about me but people make these things pretty obvious so it's hard to just ignore it, it's clear that these people who sit there and judge me instead of talking to me get a thrill out of upsetting me and that's fine if they want to waste their life being an asshole they are more than welcome, but they are the ones wasting their time, not mine, they should be concentrating on own life instead of mine don't inject yourself into my life when my life has nothing to do with you it's as simple as that really. Not going to lie yeah I have stalked people's social media, especially when keeping an eye on what they are saying about me to gather as evidence and I still do it now and then to make sure it doesn't get out of hand again but I mostly laugh at how pathetic they are to try to bring me down constantly.
What I have taken away from Nosedive is that some people may sit and judge me/unfollow me and indirect me which is basically a bit like marking someone down in Nosedive but I don't need the benefit of fake friends in my life, not when I have honest and wonderful people who appreciate me already. I've even got fed up with Instagram, it seems so tedious to post to get seen, I just want to post pictures of things I like that's it, I don't care about the engagement or likes it's just a fucking picture. Moral of the story is, I was being a social media wanker and Nosedive helped me see that.
Elle May
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