One of the strange side effects of social media is the duality in people's personalities that seems to develop.
Depending on who you are, you end up with these gaping chasms between the carefully curated version of themselves people present through social media, and the reality of who they are when they wake up in the morning feeling less than 100% and only have 17 minutes to get ready before going to work.
While some people don't really let it go to their heads too much and just share general highlights from their days and lives, there are those for whom virtually everything they do is designed around the public presentation.
They don't just make dinner and eat it, the entire process of making dinner and then sitting down at the dining table becomes a social media event that gets shared everywhere. Whereas these kinds of shares can occasionally be interesting, they always leave me wondering who is this person, really?
Sometimes it ends up feeling so incredibly artificial that it seems more like you're watching a movie or a sitcom than somebody's real life. It doesn't take much to end up with the impression that this person only accepts invitations to do things that will play well in the public arena as opposed to doing things that they actually enjoy.
While I'm aware that some folks are trying to make an actual living, I still ponder: "are they actually enjoying themselves?" Is this constant putting themselves on display something that makes them feel like their life matters? Or is it merely a tool to prop up a largely dubious sense of self-worth? Or is it only for the money?
Moreover, sometimes I end up wondering whether the carefully curated facade is deliberately made up in such a way as to secure invitations to specific things that will gain them more Instagram followers... or whatever it is they're looking for.
When I first started blogging — which is now getting on for more than 25 years ago — one of the things I always enjoyed most about the genre was that there was an authenticity there, where people allowed you into their lives to see both the good, the bad and the ugly.
But somewhere in there — perhaps with the advent of MySpace and Facebook which was about being liked more than about sharing actual life stories — that got lost.
In some ways MySpace and Facebook changed (a large part of) the Internet from being the Internet of people, to being the Internet of posing. It was one of the reasons I was turned off the idea of being part of Facebook in the very early going, even though I've had an account for 20 years.
Maybe I'm weird, but I don't want to know how good you are at acting and curating an image... I want to know who you really are, as a human being!
But maybe that is a level of intimacy and closeness and connection most people have grown very uncomfortable with. We seem more connected than ever... and at the same time, further apart than ever. Small wonder relationships formed through online dating venues are so prone to failure, since the gap between curated image and actual person is just as evident there.
Maybe I'm just getting old, but if people aren't willing to let others see them as fully themselves, we'll be struggling more and more to connect with each other. Just saying...
Thanks for stopping by and have a great Sunday!
Comments, feedback and other engagement is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!
Greetings bloggers and social content creators! This article was created via PeakD, a blogging application that's part of the Hive Social Content Experience. If you're a blogger, writer, poet, artist, vlogger, musician or other creative content wizard, come join us! Hive is a little "different" because it's not run by a "company;" it operates via the consensus of its users and your content can't be banned, censored, taken down or demonetized. And that COUNTS for something, in these uncertain times! So if you're ready for the next generation of social content where YOU retain ownership and control, come by and learn about Hive and make an account!
Proud member of the Silver Bloggers Community on Hive!
As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly and uniquely for this platform — not posted anywhere else.
2026.08.30 01:15 PDT
1629/2893
