Social Media And My Identity
Somebody recently told me that I sell dreams on social media. She implied that my online identity is far superior to my real life. I was thoroughly offended. Now I wish I could live online all the time.
When it comes to my virtual identity, I have the ability to create and control the way the world perceives me. I do this through actively selecting what I post and do not post. I try not to operate social media under the influence of emotions. I only show sides of me that I am proud of. This includes my work, humble bragging and well thought out humorous opinions. When you go through my posts, you will hardly find signs of a weakness.
I have never been bothered about the Instagrammers or the slay queens online. My parents did a good job with letting me find my identity. Its unshakeable. If anything, when I see beuatiful women online, I am inspired to do better and be better. Seeing things online makes me aspire for a better life. A pastor I once met said you can’t aspire to things that you do not know exist. Therefore, you need exposure to those things to then work towards them.
I have been bullied online twice and these are just counting the instances that then translated into other aspects of my life. The experiences have limited how much I post on social media. The things that were said, were things that have stayed with me til today. I have fears of waking up one day and a hate tweet about me has gone viral or my pictures have been turned into memes. These are things I now think about because once it’s on the internet, it cannot be erased.
