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| The world at the hands of technology. |
In a time when social media is a significant part of life and everyone is affected by it in some way, I want to quickly touch on something that I've been noticing lately.
We are all familiar with hashtags, news feeds, pages, walls, trending, tweets, snaps, memes etc. but are we all conscious of just how influenced we can be by these small blocks of multiplied wisdom?!
I am the first to admit that I'm addicted to hashtags and that I'm reasonably active on Instagram (that's a rinsta, not a finsta) and I will browse, post and like quotes and memes happily every single day. But then during one of my evening scroll-throughs, I came across something that made me think. I will try to describe it to you.
Imagine, a typical winner's podium with positions 1,2 and 3. Position one is the highest, position 2 on the right is slightly lower and position 3 on the left, slightly lower again. Now, we are looking at the podium from behind. On the podium are the 3 winning competitors, along the ground at each side are the other competitors that didn't make the top 3. From our angle, it looks as though the ground and podium are made up of stacks of blocks each naming a characteristic or personality trait of the person standing on it. Words like faith, commitment, training, dedication and determination make up the blocks beneath each competitor. As the level rises for 3rd place, the world drive appears under their feet. As it rises again for 2nd place, the word focus appears. Finally, as it rises for 1st place, the word belief sits directly under the feet of the winner. So now we can see the things we need to be standing in one of those positions, and we can see what defines the medallists from the runner's up.
Now, bear with me, as I continue to scroll, I came across another result orientated picture. It said, ‘no one cares about the journey'. In the picture was a large group of rabbits running a race. You can see the sweat and effort and determination etched into their faces. Slightly ahead and in the centre of the picture is another rabbit on what seemed to be a motorised skateboard clearly about to win much to the dismay, anger and jealousy of the runner's.
So now I began to think. I had liked the first picture, I believe that all of the competitors had built themselves up to their positions with the words listed beneath them. I also believe that it take something a little extra to push you to the top so I agree that the winners were giving something extra to their fight for first place. Their positions on the podium were direct results of the hard work and effort that they had put into their training and I believe that it's important to show that and for people to realise that skill and talent alone are never going to be enough.
I was about to like the second picture because I am a strong believer that working smarter can be more conducive than working harder in most cases when I read the caption saying that no one cares about the journey. Is that right? As people do we only care about the results and not what's gone into it? Is it ok for people to cheat or win on a technicality or by default? Do we prefer to hear about glory than the endurance, progress and learning of life's journeys? And if we do, is that ok?
I believe that you can't achieve the results you want without a long, arduous and tormented journey, because I believe that you need to fail, you need to experience ups and downs, you need to trouble-shoot in order to grow, progress, develop and fully understand the concept, idea and position that you're trying to gain. If you just skate straight through, surely you've missed the learning curve that you need to be mentally and emotionally ready to stand on that winners podium and to be more than just a one-trick pony?!
Or maybe I'm just over-thinking it, maybe smarter is more impressive due to its minimal investment so therefore the gain is greater. Or could it be that both are equally as important and necessary as each other in their own right?!
And then as I sit here contemplating the dilemma, genuinely trying to choose a side of the argument that I can fully commit to, I realise that I've been manipulated by social media. I've been distracted, fed-to and even consumed by these tiny depictions of other people's opinions. I've been so lost in their thoughts that I forgot that I have thoughts of my own, that I don't need to pick one side over the other, that these polaroid-sized thoughts will have taken minutes to create so that they can be posted on a platform that took years to build. The irony of it!
What I've learned, is that as people we are so easily influenced that sometimes we don't even realise that our consciousness picks up things that we don't even mean to, things that aren't important in the real world, things that drive us to distraction unnecessarily and manipulate us to picking sides unwillingly.
What I've also learned is that for every opinion, thought, quote, meme that's posted, there will be another one saying the exact opposite. They will both be as appealing, both as decorative and well worded but they will both be as relevant or irrelevant as you allow them to be. Your journey is your own, your thoughts, opinions and feelings are your own. You should never feel ‘behind' because your favourite celebrity, coach, pastor has quoted about their progress. It was never a race and it was never mapped out perfectly.
We need to start believing in our own journeys, focusing on our own advice, drawing our own maps, creating our own memes because as much as advice from others that have already lived the journey or won the race can be helpful, ultimately, their path isn't ours, their outcome isn't ours and their journey isn't ours.
So whatever you do, do it for you, do it the best you know how, do it wholeheartedly and do it with an open mind because this post, those memes, that Instagram have just taken me off my journey, blocked my way and wasted my time. They were the Sirens and my ship sailed willingly to their calls, veering right off the course I was on.
Instagram – 1, Me – 0...for now!
But, hey, what do I know?! I'm just one of those people on the internet with opinions that I've just been telling you to ignore. We're all just going in circles, pushed from pillar-to-post by servers, websites and programs looking for a way out of our giant hamster balls.
