ARE YOU IT?

What are you going to do when you realize that you, the individual you, the personal you, the ego you, you as you think about as being yourself, the body you, the personality you… what are you going to do when you finally realize that you are not it after all.

Not it?

Not it!

Right now in increasing numbers we see people spending most of their time being totally self-absorbed. How can you know if you are totally self-absorbed?

Here are a few hints… Make a check list of those that apply to you.

Are you…

…needing extra time to get your hair styled just right before going out
      …constantly preening and checking your dress and if it is in line with latest trendy gear
      …looking at yourself in the mirror as you say certain lines you want to use to impress
      …writing a blog about your personal activities every day and putting it on line
      …compulsively checking the number of people following you on social media
      …feeling exhilarated when there are comments from others that praise your lifestyle
      …taking selfie photos at every opportunity and posting them to your social media sites
      …always posting photos of exotic food you are eating so that others can envy you
      …have your facebook link on a personal name card and you drop them everywhere you go
      …an authority on what you like and what you are doing and talk about very little else
      …pleading that everyone click like then being highly gratified with all likes received
      …taking personal affront if someone tweets that your view is out of fashion or wrong
      …putting a huge number of photos of yourself alone on line
      …thinking of people who follow or subscribe as your personal fan club
      …when asked what you have been up to, you ask "didn't you read my blog?"

? ? ?

Now ask yourself…

What is the value of your facebook page to anyone other than you? (The WhoGAF question)

What is the value of a “like” on any of your social media other than a stroke to your ego?

Are you even slightly interested in anyone who follows you (other than potential sex partners)

If you died tomorrow, how many people do you honestly believe would remember you after one week, one month, or one year.

You may have guessed that I am not a fan of any social media. I understand it, but I just cannot figure out for a minute why anyone would want to put all those personal details about themselves on line.

Identity theft – handing out your full name, date of birth, names of your mother and father, names of your siblings, where you work and in what capacity, and often a huge amount of critical information that can so easily be used against you.

Job interviews – all that bullshit you put on your resume is now easily checked. Even if your own profile is full of the same bullshit, it is very evident from your contact list just who can be asked to verify any information about you. Can you stand up to a bit of checking and scrutiny?

You also inform about your personal life, habits and preference. This might be great for your friends and those you think you are impressing and those you like to party with. But do you really think that your boss won’t also take a little look around too? Will your boss be impressed? Probably, but maybe not in a way that is going to help you build your career.

How about your parents? Will it be okay if they get to know all those nitty gritty details? Or, heaven forbid… your children find out what you are up to… or what you were up to? Anything that is posted on line goes public to the world and it never goes away, ever. Even when deleted, it is still out there somewhere and can be found. Now, lots of people will start beating the self-righteous drum and say that they have nothing to hide, so what’s the beef with putting it out there. To that I still say, why?

And no, I don’t have anything to hide which would justify my stance against participation in the modern day insanity I see gripping the digital generation. I am writing this essay and maybe one day it will “get out”. However, these texts are being written just to get the stories out of me. Also, in doing so, I get a chance to relive all those “bits of my dash” and I enjoy it.

Finally, it all just seems like such a useless waste of valuable time. But that’s just me, and I am a dinosaur, I fully and proudly admit. I also don’t think that I think that I am “it”.

Perhaps the main issue here is that I am not even sure who “I” am. And since I seem to have come around to it, I follow this with my next ramblings entitled The Three of Me.