Can we all agree that the definition of Narcissism is the fixation with one’s self and physical appearance?
The Greek myth goes that Narcisissus was an on-fleek hunter who got so proud, such that he showed disdain for those who loved him. So Nemesis lured him to a pool where he found his own reflection and fell in love with it. In fact, he stared at his reflection till he died there.
There’s another version of the myth. An on-fleek person was lured to a pool, there, he fell in love with what he saw, even though sometimes, it wasn’t actually his reflection. The more people approved, the more he fell in love with what he saw in the pool.
The pool in the second version? Social media.
As we can all agree, Social Media has been the best thing since the Google Internet. It has rallied complete strangers to save the lives of other complete strangers, it has toppled governments, and changed the way information is shared.
It has also fucked many of us up.
Let’s run through this sequence together. You take a good photo. You should post it, but then there’s something in the background. Something that shouldn’t be there, maybe a dirty cup, or even a dusty car. You take another. This one is better. Open your Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/Blahablah. Upload. Now, the likes are coming. Maybe you’ll surpass your previous like or retweet record. Yes. It has now. Mission accomplished. Thank God you didn’t put that photo with the dirty cup up. Maybe you wouldn’t have gotten as much likes.
You ever wondered why Instagram doesn’t have a dislike button and why Twitter switched from favourite to like? It’s because they know it gives us a sense of approval, dude. As long as we feel approved and fulfilled, they know we’ll keep coming back.
You see, this shouldn’t be a bad thing. It keeps us happy even when the world sucks. You could be broke and still get 1000 RTs. You could be lonely and depressed and still give relationship advice. You could have achieved nothing in real life but still know better about how a country should be run, or how a football team should be managed. These things help many of us, but there’s something we must remember from the story of Narcissus.
His sense of self led to him seeing others as less.
This is the one thing Social media does to us that we must fight.
Narcissus died at the pool doesn’t mean you should die there too.
Have small sense.
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