Seeking relevance
A couple of years ago, fresh from the laid-back world of college, I started a blog. At first I didn’t know what to write about. My first few posts ranged from mundane rants to highfalutin sentiments (or so I thought). In fact, my WordPress ID was snooty (read: thoughtologist).
Eventually I found my niche, and concentrated on fashion blogging. I decided to critique the new collections of brands and fashion houses and to curate the really good ones according to my taste. To satisfy my readers’ visual appetite, and also to entice new ones, I created a Lookbook account. It helped that I was really into fashion and I liked dressing up.
But law school became more demanding and after actively blogging for almost a year, I stopped posting updates. It was regrettable as things were taking off (or so I thought). I had begun to receive invites to events and product launches, in exchange for spreading the news on my own network.
Fast-forward to the present. I laugh whenever I remember that phase in my life. Truth be told, I tried to pass myself off as some sort of a fashion blogger not really because of my interest in fashion, or even my passion for writing, but because I was trying to be relevant.
In this day and age when one’s influence is measured by the number of “likes” an Instagram post generates, or by the number of one’s Twitter followers, fitting in has become a lot harder. Social media is now regarded as a ticket to success and, in most instances, a key to fame and fortune.
Let’s admit it: You can’t be considered cool unless you have an active online presence. The more invested you are in social media, the cooler you are seen to be. The name of the game is popularity; the rules of the game are limitless. It’s a matter of being in the scene.
Social networking has pervaded our lives to the point that the distinctions between our personal and virtual spaces have so blurred that you can’t make distinctions anymore. The subjects of conversation are now shaped by what’s trending online.
It does not end there. Another confusion—between what’s real and what’s imagined—has been created. Social media takes us to another dimension—a world that may in fact not be grounded in reality. Since we have control over our own accounts, we can choose what to post online and, therefore, dictate what we want others to see and think about us.
Naturally, what we choose to post are enhanced versions of ourselves. Think of it as a digital marketing plan: We decide on what personality we want to project—artsy dude, privileged kid, know-it-all intellectual, carefree party-goer, wannabe hipster, etc.—and through liking, tweeting, or sharing, the grand plan is executed. Our online personas are transformed into virtual résumés. Through social media, we are able to sell ourselves.
Not that this approach is entirely flawed. After all, whether we accept it or not, we do this in order to seek relevance. We try our best to please others, so that we may find ourselves worthy of being accepted into the evolving notion of a person relevant to society.
Ultimately, social media is power. What were once unimaginable can now become great possibilities. This is where we must hold ourselves responsible to utilize its potential for the greater good, and not just our self-serving whims. But that’s easier said than done.
Thus, the real challenge is to live out what we project online in the best way we can, with no pretensions. It should be the other way around—the virtual merely mirroring real life—but the prevailing setup dictates otherwise.
And this is what I propose: that whatever we decide to imbibe virtually, we should strive hard to transform into reality. By doing so, we restore the balance between what is real and what is imagined, and we reach the perfect version of what we want to become.
Joseph Giancarlo C. Agdamag, 24, is a senior at Ateneo Law School and current editor in chief of The Palladium, its official student publication.
