Split Personality? No it's just Social Networking

I think that this is going to be one of the posts where you either agree completely with me, or you think I’m crazy.

 

Have you noticed that each of the social network sites brings out a different side of you?  Most people tend to say for example that on Facebook, you tend to show the “ideal” version of yourself.  An inaccurate portrayal which shows the world you who want to be, how wonderful your life is, even if it isn’t.

You have the “look how many friends I have, how popular I am” types, the mothers with the countless baby updates and photos see Baby, Baby, Baby Nooo! just to show what a good mother they are, the woe is me types etc etc.

People say about my Facebook that I am too picky about the photos on it of me, and I always always make them laugh.  So basically, what that boils down to is bad self image and wanting people I know to like what I am saying.

With Twitter, it is different again.  

I only have three people I actually know on my follow list.  The rest I met through Twitter and have never met in real life, and I like that.  I can and do say what I want without the fear of being judged for what I think or say.  I talk to likeminded, fun people about things we love, or just have a banter with.

Twitter brings out my ranting side, my willingness to talk to new people and gain other’s perspectives on things, not just my own.  It has brought out my opinionated side more in my real life, which is a good thing.

Google+ brings out my techie side but with so few friends on there that have crossed over from Facebook, I don’t really bother with it much so won’t here either.

So that’s the social networks.  One is the “like me” side of me and one is the ranting, opinionated side of me.  Both are the twin halves of me, but they will never be joined together, not on a social network site.

Here however, on this blog, is truly me.  When I write, good or bad, it is always truly what I think and who I am.  You get the insecure side, the ranting side, the funny side, the opinionated side, every side I have.  I never thought when I started this blog that it would be anything more than just a bit of fun.  I never expected to post as much as I do or be as honest as I have.  The blog is the virtual me and I find myself quite possessive of it now I have it.

When I first started putting the links of my blog on Twitter I was truly terrified.  I don’t know what I expected people to say, but I know I expected a negative reaction.  That’s the good thing about Twitter though, you are sending it to strangers and if they don’t like it, what does it matter?

No friends have ever read this blog.  I’ve never given them the address.  Maybe that’s the next step.

Well this has been a bit of a disjointed post.  I knew what I wanted to say at the start and it kind of run away with me.  But there you go, that is me.  I ramble, a lot.

How well do you know yourself?

I don’t know about you, but it surprises me about much I have changed over the years.

I think that it when you turn 30 that your personality really kicks in and you find out who you are.  Sometimes that is surprising.

Up until 30 I was always shy, I agreed with everything people said, even if I didn’t agree.  I was always nice to everybody, and scared of being disliked.  These days, things are somewhat different.

I have always been a loyal person, have always fiercely defended my friends.  That has never changed.   Now however, I am not scared to say what my opinion is and most would say, and is no doubt evidenced by this blog, that I am rather opinionated.  Also very sarcastic, but only to those I know can take it.

These days, I say what I think and I mean what I say.  This is probably offset by the fact that I am still shy until people get to know me and I have still have the overwhelming urge to be liked.

This may explain the comment I got today

Babe, you know what, I know you and you are a sweetheart, but if I didn't, I'd think you were a bitch.

Well, I think that covers all bases there! At the end of the day, it is more important to know who you are, and accept it.  Be who you are and learn to like it.  Took me 32 years to figure that out!  

A Rant about the “Public”

One person is smart, people are stupid

If I had written this post a few years ago, I would be blaming the media right now for the views and reactions of the public these days.  But the fact is, the only people we have to blame are ourselves.

I first started to notice the real effect that the media had on the public when Madeleine McCann went missing.  The way her parents were treated in the media was horrific, especially bearing in mind what they were already going through.  But then I stopped to think.

The general public seem to thrive on controversy and “the next thing to rant about”.  The tabloids are obviously selling and writing about what the public want to read about, otherwise they would go out of business, with no papers sold.  So the question is, is it their fault, or our own?

With the whole phone hacking thing, although it was horrible that victims and their families had been hacked, the fact is that it has been going on for years.  People, mainly celebrities, have complained about being hacked for years, but because the public wanted to hear the stories, they didn’t care that how that information was obtained.

I have to wonder then, who really can judge the rights and wrongs of the media.  People in their millions bought and lapped up all the stories of kidnap, murder and sensational stories and in turn, the media are put under increasing pressure to produce those stories. 

Don’t get me wrong, phone hacking is wrong, but the question I have is how much is pressure to produce a factor, bearing in mind the obvious public wanting of these stories.  Shouldn’t we be accountable too?

This post started from watching the XFactor (British) this weekend.  A judge telling a 17 year old girl that she is a bully in front of millions, surely that is bullying in itself?  Because of his comments, the papers pick up on it, no doubt now she will be investigated by the tabloids, every person she has ever known asked for bullying stories, and the public will lap it up.

I was watching the results show and watched in horror when one of the final two was loudly booed.  What right do we have to do that to someone?  They still have feelings, yet it is practically turned into a blood sport without care of who is hurt.

Is that what the general public really have turned into?  A baying crowd, wanting blood and controversy no matter what the price? 

The fact is, the public have turned into sheep.  Following whatever is popular opinion at the moment, always looking for the next thing to get on their soap box about.   This is why I usually don’t watch the reality shows, and why I don’t read the tabloids.

The public need to vote with their feet, if you want news and stories of something more than celebrities, controversy and ripping people to pieces, don’t buy the paper. 

They write what sells, so in the end, the contents of the tabloids is our fault, not theirs.