The Fake Celebrities
Social media
noun
websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.
Above mentioned is the definition of what social media is. Social media has become an all pervasive tool in the hands of nearly every individual in the world. The world’s largest social network Facebook boasts of nearly 3 billion users of which a billion are active users. (Correct me if my facts are wrong) Similar such large social networks are Instagram and Whatsapp,again owned by Facebook, which have 600 million and 1.2 billion active users respectively. Snapchat and Twitter too aren’t far behind with 105 million and 319 monthly active users. The social component is also prevalent in portals such as video viewing website YouTube which has enabled social interaction through their comments section and on various aggregator portals such as Zomato through their reviews section. Many Zomato reviewers today are considered legit food reviewers and experts with many of them being specifically invited by new restaurants in order to generate buzz through their reviews!
What initially started as a platform for people to interact with long lost friends and family and regularly stay in touch has morphed into a mammoth tool for people to live alternate virtual lives. Lives that can be very different from their daily regular selves. Today, the infatuation with social media has taken vanity to a different level altogether with people chronicling every aspect of their daily routine on some platform or the other-Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter etc. Its almost like if even a minute detail of their life isn’t up there for all to see it is a cardinal sin. The obsession with likes, shares and followers has turned people into mini celebrities constantly craving and strategising to increase their follower base thereby them becoming PR managers for themselves. We have made sensations out of YouTube performers and also people have managed to become persons of importance simply by virtue of what they tweet or post on Facebook. Why? They are just funny and have a large fan base, if I may call it. The desire to be felt important and famous and the urge to reach out to larger number of people has resulted in “friends” being added mindlessly and making the world seem more connected while in reality it isn’t. At least on paper, in the virtual world, six degrees of separation has probably narrowed down to three or four.
These fake celebrities whose only stake to claim is a social media presence and them chronicling every aspect of their lives for full public view fail to realise that with this fame comes its share of being judged by the world and also, bullying. While I do not condone bullying, let us face the fact that extremes in opinion exist and as long as extremes do exist there will be people wanting to shove them down others throats. Coming to judgments being passed, people have always been judgmental and I believe to an extent even having an opinion expressed includes a fair degree of judgment which we have to be okay with. To get completely upset and wild because someone you didn’t know had an opinion about your post on social media is you being plain stupid. Either be fine with acknowledging you aren’t famous or if you’d like to believe you are, be absolutely fine with what a stranger thinks about your virtual self. It might not correspond with what you might stand for in real but remember, that’s not what you have projected on the internet. Also, your life is on display the moment it goes up online no matter how defiant you might be about it. So just shut up and accept it or else stop adding new people to your lists. To wrap up and on a parting note, remember, your fame on social media is just equivalent to being rich on Monopoly and also what you post on social media remains on Google forever. Get ready to be judged not just today and tomorrow but for long after you’re gone despite future generations not knowing who you are.