The Beat Goes On

I’m not sure when we first realize that the world doesn’t revolve around our own lives and for some people the realization never occurs. Perhaps after high school when we get into the working world or university where the professors don’t take a personal interest in their students the lightbulb goes on. In school we are always thinking everyone is looking at me that I’m pretty sure we could all be diagnosed paranoid. I’m not sure when I first asked the question “whose looking?” but I was at least in my thirties!

This paranoia doesn’t have anything to do with vanity. I simply think we are born with the feeling that we are the centre of the universe. Ego. Slowly over time we realize that this isn’t the case, but it is an unconscious evolution and eventually we are mature enough to know that we aren’t being scrutinized for every little mistake we make.

Now we have this technology called Social Networking. We can blog, we can Facebook, we can Tweet and it seems overnight we have again become narcissistic. We are the centre of our universe again. I watched Julie & Julia a while back and didn’t understand what she was doing when she would rush to her computer every morning to look at the numbers. She was looking for the hits on her blog and nothing was happening and she was feeling devastated. I know how she feels now except she had a purpose in writing. Well, I suppose I have a purpose also but still . . .

And then there is Facebook. How many millions look at their Facebook and hope for a comment from someone when they’ve written something witty, weird or wild? In a way these people are being very brave because they are putting themselves out on the line. Brave? Foolish? Optimistic? Hopeful?

What I know for sure is that this technology is allowing many people who otherwise would be silent quiet little mushrooms an opportunity to express themselves and while most of what goes out there may be drivel to most of us to the author it generally has some kind of meaning. It will be interesting to do a study some years hence on the evolution and consequences of this self expression. I suspect this generation will be interesting to watch.