Lasting Images

Our beloved society is becoming addicted to attention. It has become the driving force behind many actions today. The need to eat barely tops the need to trend, be mentioned, retweeted, texted or pinged. Social media is turning into a popularity contest based on how many “friends” you have, how many followers you’ve got and how many of them you aren’t following back, and how many likes you got on your last photo. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing bad about being popular, but are you popular for the right reasons. We have seen some people channel their popularity on social networks into great things like charitable organisations,  business ventures and other socially beneficial entities.

In an effort to be “the talk of town“ we’ve seen people post all sorts of heinous stuff on social media. Of course in the end they achieve their goals but at the cost of what? Oh no! Don’t be so quick to pull out the “It’s not your business” card on me, for it is in fact my business. It my business because stunts like that put up a negative image of my generation. A lot of scrutiny will be put into what type of person is being hired into a firm. In a world where skill is becoming more and more common place, the attention of employers is shifting towards the history and behaviour of a person applying for a job. And you’re going to allow a bid for fifteen minutes of popularity spoil your chances at starting your own life on a good foot. It’s bad enough that you compete with thousands of people everyday for very limited job spaces, don’t let your popularity make it worse.

Being rude and mean to people you think less of is the in-thing. Presently, an opened display of rudeness all in an effort to look “cool” is not rare. Many people want to be the one who lashed out that hot “asala”. As cliché as it may sound, you never know where you’d meet somebody, so it only pays to be nice to the person. If you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Yes, I know, I know. I sound like your primary school teacher but you’ve got to know that he or she may be the very person that you may have to seek help from.

My words may only go so far, it’s up to you to make a conscious effort to stop this new order. Social networks used to be fun virtual amusement parks, now they’re just as dangerous as minefields in Vietnam or Afghanistan. Let’s be more careful and prudent in what we post up, it may define us at some point.

Bless.