"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."
Mark Twain
I found an interesting article in the New York Times last Sunday about authenticity, especially on-line. (Anybody who's been around for awhile surely recalls the old cartoon about how "nobody knows you're a dog when you're on the Internet.") Everybody these days seems to be professing authenticity, a big topic of discussion in connection with the many GOP presidential candidates. One thing I'm pretty certain about: the truly authentic don't have to announce it to the world.
The article mentions Facebook--how it is usually our presentation of "ourselves on our best day." And that a typical person's post is an attempt, consciously or not, to sell him or herself. I think Facebook is a little more complicated than that; people who post are driven by one or more motivations including the need to publicly reveal:
- the best possible face
- a singular item expected to awe/amaze/amuse
- a whine, with the hope for sympathy
- an opinion, with the hope that many will agree with it
- a series of compulsively recorded details about every day life in a ploy for attention
- a polite, dutiful periodic comment in order not to appear to be too much of a lurking voyeur
- a short response to someone else's post to demonstrate solidarity and/or some level of participation in life
There are probably many other modes--do people even think about it anymore? Or is Facebook so ubiquitous at this point that asking these questions is like asking what "mode" somebody is in when they use a telephone or send an email?
I think the underlying motivation is to connect with other people in some way, but without any great investment of time, energy or commitment. However, this basic need to connect is authentic, no? Even though the "face" people present on Facebook may not be truly accurate or authentic, it does give people a way to maintain at least a very low grade connection with others. And so Facebook has redeeming value because it allows people to stay connected albeit in a very superficial way for the most part.
So, back to authenticity--how to define it? Is it telling the truth no matter what, even if it does more harm than good? I think it's telling yourself the truth, and acting in close concert with your most deeply held values, no matter what the cost. Given this, mentioning authenticity and presidential candidates in the same breath seems highly contradictory.
5 comments:
I try NOT to be consistently upbeat and happy on FB. But then I again, I also trim my friend list from time to time if people don't respond in a manner I trust. :)
The ironic thing is that social networking has allowed you and me to renew conversation, and that, to me, has enriched my life.
My thing lately is the recognition that social media (FB, LinkedIn, Twitter) DOES suck time away from other online things I want to do (like blogging). So I am slowly coming to the conclusion that I need to cut back on the social thing so I can concentrate on more creative avenues of expression. Or at least ones that require more discipline and thought.
I agree wholeheartedly that Facebook can renew conversations with old friends (like you) and I do value that highly.
I also agree that it's an empty time drain with little payoff a lot of the time. I too have been blogging way less, but I think that is more because I don't seem to have ideas worth sharing as often, rather than the distractions of Facebook.
That's what I thought, too - until I started thinking about what was really going on with FB. Give it some quiet observation over the next couple of months and see if you don't come to the same conclusion. It isn't that FB and blogging are a zero-sum game, but more that the time and energy spent on FB somehow drain the desire to write longer posts and convert blog-worthy thoughts into short snippets.
I can buy that - and maybe blogs are just too long-winded for many these days. I still prefer blogging for what I think of as "real" ideas, though - not sure I can do them justice in such short snippets. And I still haven't signed up for Twitter - no real interested at all in that.
I use Twitter basically as a professional "clipping service" (whereas LinkedIn is more my professional Rolodex).
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