How many times have you ran into someone—whom you have never met in person—but, you already follow on Instagram and/or several other social media—and, failed to recognize them?
Note the manner in which the question has been formed. It inquires about the frequency of that experience, rather than whether it has ever occurred.
This is founded upon the following assumption:
One finds themself confident enough to assert with apodeictic certainty that the vast majority of active people on social media, in this age of ours i.e. the Age of the Imbecile, have inevitably been exposed to the aforementioned experience.
A bold claim? Perhaps.
Is it reasonable, nonetheless? It, most definitely, is.
A phenomenal pariah that feeds on the individual’s perception of self-image—goes by the name filtration—is the underlying reason for the emergence of that experience.
Filtration is the twenty-first century matrix; while social media are merely the ‘blue pill’ [in reference to the movie, “The Matrix (1999),” (Wachowski, et al.)] that entraps the individual therein.
It started off as an entertainment feature via which people could enjoy myriad appearances for the same picture/video. A taste of that Hollywood aura, at the fingertips of the common individual. Hence, it incited a sense of fun.
‘Fun’, as we know it, is one of the most addictive incorporeal intoxications for the human brain. Some would waste their entire lifetime in its pursuit.
Notwithstanding, at some point down the road, that sense of fun transforms into an ever-growing strain—particular to both, emotive and cognitive faculties.
With respect to the cognitive faculties:
Filters present an irreconcilable cognitive dissonance pertaining to self-image: a substantial incongruity between a person’s actual appearance and their ‘filtered’ representation. The inner strife intensifies when an individual perceives the former to be inferior to the latter. A preference would inevitably develop for the superior image; which in turn creates the drive for the eradication of the inferior and incongruent—even, incompatible—image.
Hence, that unfortunate person attempts to escape the unescapable—for, inferior, incongruent, and incompatible refer to their actual appearance—and that is, one’s own skin.
Simultaneously, the emotive faculties are in utter disarray:
The strain expands and takes its toll on the emotive faculties. Who doesn’t loathe the weaker or inferior aspects of their character? A form of an apparently natural hatred towards the so-labeled ‘inferior’ self-image germinates.
The devastating effect of such hatred is the rejection of the only real self-image on account of the hyperreal one. They would simply wish for their physical appearance to disappear altogether—for it is, so they say, ‘ugly’.
Social media only corroborate that sentiment—as they showcase the universality thereof. It is the only thing keeping the matrix—i.e. filtration—alive.
People in the Age of the Imbecile, namely millennials, must come to terms with the fact that the matrix of filtration is a hyperreality; that is to say, NOT REAL!
It is dangerous by all accounts; for this matrix sabotages the individual’s true self-image—nay, even devours the latter.
In a nutshell, Accept thyself!
Reference
The Matrix. Directed by Lana Wachowski, and Lilly Wachowski, Produced by Joel Silver, performances by Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving. 1999.
