"Being famous on Instagram is like being rich in Monopoly” is a quote widely circulated about social media. Being famous in the virtual world isn’t really, well, real.
But many people have made a career out of being famous in that “unreal” world, and get perks and are invited to important events, and even use their great following as part of their CV when applying for jobs. And whether we like it or not, prospective employers do look at your social media standing, and what your post and comment on. I have heard a human resources expert say that social media is a “truer mirror” of person’s soul than their CV and their more professional profile.
“You can’t hide what you really feel and think about something on social media: it comes out through you liking a post or commenting or ignoring it,” she says. “We pay close attention, especially to the photos and videos.”
With all the studies on the negative effects of social media – from it causing anxiety, depression and stress to encouraging narcissism and self-promotion – it is no wonder that some are opting to delete their accounts or not set them up in the first place.
I was surprised to learn that some of my friend’s kids are avoiding social media. They are as young as 10 and they refuse to get roped into it.
“I want to live in the real world. I want to have real friends and I don’t want to care about who saw my post and who liked it or not,” said my friend’s son.
Meanwhile, many adults I know have stopped checking their accounts. They said they couldn’t be bothered to keep up with updates. They stopped caring about what they are missing and who got engaged and who travelled where and so on. They wait to actually meet up with friends to find out about the latest news.
“What is there to talk about if someone has posted everything about their lives on social media?” said one friend, who has closed her Facebook account. She kept Twitter to check for breaking news, but that was about it.
Could the pendulum be slowly turning back to the time of real communication and connections?
It is not surprising social media is so popular in the Middle East, given the cultural and social restrictions in real life that push some to live a different life in their social media world. Often parents have no idea what their kids are up to, especially if the age difference is big and their children have not told them about their multiple accounts.
There could be one account and phone number that is open to the family, but a whole set of other accounts and phone numbers for the different personas and lives of one person. It must be hard to keep checking everything without getting confused.
Whether we like it or not, we have to remain plugged in to stay in the game, whatever that particular game may be. Social media has become part of the rules of survival, and it is difficult to make it these days just based on word of mouth and real connections.
Nowadays, people can search for anything online and cast themselves as experts: be it how to take photos or sew or cook or anything, really. One person posts about pursuing, for example, a career as a life coach, and within the same month, there were will be similar posts from other “FB friends” all inspired to do the same.
The other day I heard one of my friends’ kids play a beautiful piece of music. I asked by whom, she said: by me. She had used some online programme and had become her own Beethoven.
In a world where everyone can become an expert on anything by the click of a button, it is sometimes nice to just close it all off and look up – instead of down at your phone – and find the “real you” and what you are really good at out there in the real world.
rghazal@thenational.ae
On Twitter: @Arabianmau
