Self Control on the Internet
How do you practice self-care online? What do you recommend to others?
Practicing self-care is an important part of the online world, especially when there are individuals on the internet that just look for people to beat down with words. Self-care helps me create an appearance to others that I can honestly say, I am proud of. Making sure to hold back or not engage in issues or behaviours that may find me in trouble in the future. This is something I think about when I consciously make decisions as to what I am viewing, posting or engaging in.
As with all things in life, self-care comes with its issues: these online platforms have made it very easy individuals to keep their identity hidden or difficult to attain. We all know people lie and may not be who they say they are. We run into an issue with this because these are the people who abuse their power online, these are the people that the term self-care was created for: the uncontrolled, sometimes immoral, sociopaths who use the internet as their own world to be the “boss”.
Like many, I have a Facebook account and choose not to post all my deepest, darkest thoughts, pictures and personal information. I don’t post much at all. My self-control is that I think personal things others choose to share are not something I wish to engage in. I decided this a long time ago, that my personal life, really isn’t for the whole world to take part in. I prefer to live in the moment, instead of sharing where I am or checking in to locations. Realistically, no one should care about these things, but they do and somehow, someway there may be a photo or something I share that may offend others. My personal opinions may not reflect or coincide with another person and that may cause controversy, something I don’t want to deal.
I am very calculated and with what I post, but not to say I don’t do it at all. When I do want to advertise an opinion, I try to anonymize myself. I also chose never to swear on social media, this type of behaviour is not how I want to portray myself and it will cause attention, negative attention. If I am to get personal, (which I do sometimes) I chose to vent about controversial topics like the election, religion or a serious problem in the world on my other accounts where nobody will see it (unless they look hard). My entertaining choice of ranting is all done on twitter which I use to rant or to tweet and interact with different celebrities that I like.
I have two Instagram accounts: one for my personal brand with well thought out and appropriate posts, with perfect captions, everyone strives for. The second account is where I post everything else, this is the one I can “let loose” and not worry about people judging me and my freedom of speech. People don’t even know I personally have this other account (friends and co-workers) this allows me to vent without judgement. This is where I share with the world.
Practicing self-care online is probably the most important strategy you can do while portraying yourself to others online. Social media is a very public place; we need to remember this. When profiles are set to private, people have ways of finding what you post. What you write on social media is very influential toward potential employers; not only to potential employers, but people in general. If you have a chat with someone that you think is private in a comment section or even in private message, it can always find a way to the wrong hands. These are thoughts that should always be in the back of your mind when your engaging online, think clearly and concisely. These are personal choices I make, I don’t profess that they will work for everyone, I also don’t profess that they will work for you, but if you do decide to engage in social media, be safe. The key to the internet is any disrespect/respect you are going to put out, think twice before clicking.
