It's been said that actions speak louder than words. What does this mean in a digital world where words are often all we have to judge by? Pictures give some vitality to the words in a caption and we know that a picture is worth a thousand words. What about videos? Instagram recently included a video option to their popular photo blogging app. So here we have thousands of words being expressed in short videos.
But how do you capture a human being in words? After spending a lifetime with close friends and family, can you with confidence accurately depict even one of those people in words? Perhaps with the help of some pictures in an old album or maybe with home videos can you begin to paint a picture in someone else's mind.
And yet, the description never does seem to justify all that this human being is.
This is where we are in the digital world; at odds against an impossible task of giving some inclination as to who we are in a 100 words or less and maybe a few photos or videos. The framework of social networks limit the human being in description. Because of their popularity we have stampeded towards these in hope of fulfilling whatever promises we may think exist. In glancing at the doorway into this world we see one size to fit all. It doesn't matter how magnificent or amazing you might be, you must attempt to depict yourself in 100 words or less just like every other person wanting to go through this door.
What do you bring with you? What do you leave out? Why are you censoring your own being? Doesn't matter when the party on the other side of that door is going on. And yet it does.
Before coming to the door of that digital party we will have conditioned ourselves to live within the limits of that door. But is that who you really are?
Though I might be able to show you a picture of my smile it doesn't mean that you will get to see what my face looks like as I smile. A girl I dated once told me how she loved that part of my lip caught on my teeth as I smiled. This is a small but important example.
If some aspects of your humanity escape the extreme criticism of your mind it doesn't mean they don't exist. Who you are isn't simply defined by what you think of yourself (though it takes the most precedence). Your being is defined also by the perception of those around you. If all anyone sees of you is your Facebook profile picture and a 100 words of less of what you think you are, how narrow is their perception of you?
After reading that the next question is why bother thinking about this?
There is danger in limiting our perspective on who you are. When we begin to define ourselves simply in terms of our fascination with photography or with what we find mildly amusing on the internet then we limit who we are. When those few things begin to disappoint us what else is there to make us happy? And what if you simply can't express your queer interest in how dancing makes you feel because words feel constricting?
Attempting to funnel your being into a such a concise definition endangers your self-perception because what you think becomes who you are. Don't let taglines, status updates, About Me's or even photo albums limit who you are. You are a human being, and even more, you are a child of God. Imagine trying to describe that in a 100 words or less.
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