Over the years I have heard lots of sayings like "you are known by the friends you keep... The food you eat... The thoughts you think!" But quite outta-the-blue I realised today that some people perceive others, by the image they keep on the social media.. Yup! I had a "You are known by what you are on the social media" kinnda moment! :) And it made me stop to wonder- how did that happen?
My journey into social media, like most Indians my age, started with Orkut. There was the occassional yahoo chat, msn messenger etc before that; but somehow that had a one-on-one personalised touch about it that is not really sooo prominent in social medias today. Orkut was very soon replaced by facebook and also twitter (which I'm still trying to get my head around :))! But what I'm still trying to figure out is how did adding me as your facebook friend become the only way of knowing me..? And when did commenting or liking my status get equalant to picking the phone to say "Hi!"???
When I called someone today, after ages, instead of the usual "What's up with you? Haven't heard from you in forever!" which I kinnda expected him to say; I heard "I know all about you & your daughter. Is there anything else happening in your life?" And it took me a little by surprise... I almost found it border-line rude. I mean, I was ready to apologize for putting up pictures of my baby girl on my own facebook account. But then it also made me feel kinnda weird... He thinks of me as nothing more than a mommy? (Even if that was really true) Why was he perceiving me by the status and pictures I had put up? And if he was doing this, then, that's probably what the other 400 odd "friends" were doing too... Weirdly it felt like I was being type casted or "Mummyfied" really!
Social Media does that to you huh? People are known by the number of facebook friends they have or twitter followers or tweet handles... Aren't they?
Oh! I'm really not the person against facebook or twitter or someone who's giving gyaan on how social media is taking over socialising perse... I guess all I'm saying is, that personally I would really like to be perceived as more than what I am on the social media... It is a part of me, it is definitely not ALL I am!!! :) So go ahead and make a pencil draft of me by the impressions you get of me on the social media, BUT get to know me a little more, before you write that down with a permanent marker...! ;)
