We live in two distinct worlds. One life exists primarily at work. Its professional, polished and politically correct. Its a life of routine and conformity. And its an act. The other life is more complex and exists primarily at home. Its where we let our guard down and let out the personality that makes us, us. It is the life you are afraid to let other know about. In this life we are crazy, paranoid, psychotic, insecure, you name it, we are all of it. But it is real.
However, things are changing. Facebook, MySpace, GPS, Twitter, etc. Everyday, the technology of the 21st is further documenting our lives and persona to the point that our private and public spheres are becoming blurred. I was initially resistant to this movement. I was intensely private, willing to go to great lengths to guard my psychoses. But recently, I have begun to change my mind.
If you are familiar with the evolution of man, you would know that we as a species, used to live in a communal setting. But somewhere along the line, the human race separated into clans and families. We began to build borders (homes) around ourselves and shrouded our personal lives and thoughts in secrecy from others. "Never tell anybody outside the family what you're thinking again!" as uttered by Vito Corelone in The Godfather was the norm. This development though, came at a price. We lost touch with our race.
Now, after centuries of putting up walls between our human brethren, we are tearing them down. Technology is giving us a closer look at what happens behind closed doors and what we are learning is that we are not that dissimilar. That others have hidden private personas that are not so much different than our own. That our psychoses are on par with everybody else (for the most part). We are discovering that human nature is not robotic, but rather significantly and exquisitely flawed. And this understanding is a positive development in our evolution.
I have always believed that we must put the advancement, enlightenment and common good of our race above our self-interest. It is for these reasons that I had to embrace the blurring of public and private life. Its why I write this blog. Yes, it is not easy to put yourself out there, exposing your insecurities to the world. What if they judge me harshly? What if this, what if that? I say, who gives a damn. If they want to continue being delusional hypocrites, so be it. The truth is, only through a better understanding of each other will we ever truly feel comfortable with ourselves. So embrace the blur, reach out to someone and let them know that you are just as crazy as them.
Posts
Here is the question, though: are we really better off after seeing Oscar de la Hoya in drag?
ReplyDeleteI agree with your stance, but it is dangerous because our society loves to be hypocrites. (Larry craig is my favorite example) The same boss that will fire you for having a racy facebook page or writing a complaint about work, goes home and does things far worse. In theory you are correct, but I fear we are decades away from people truly expressing who they are (at least people over 30)without reprecussions. Cheers to a new age if expression - I am just not sure when it wil actually occur.
ReplyDeleteMC
Mark,
ReplyDeleteTouche. I retract my argument.
DLaz
Matt,
ReplyDeleteYea, it might be a slow process. But we'll get there eventually.
DLaz
dug: there is some good science on loneliness being done by psychologists. for the most part, they find relationships established through impersonal mediums (i.e. facebook), as having moderate psychological benefits, at best, and as detracting from close existing relationships, at worst. the underlying message seems to be that loneliness has terrible implications on health over the long-term, but that it's necessary only to have a few tight relationships, as opposed to myriad loose ones, to mitigate the psychosomatic damage done by living an altogether private existence.
ReplyDeleteJaffejofar,
ReplyDeleteI am not suggesting that we use facebook, etc as a subsitute for our personal relationships. Rather, I am suggesting that services such as facebook, etc help break down the walls between our private and public lives (which in turn will help break down double standards and hypocrisy in society). And that is a good thing.
Although, your point is well taken. There are many who do subsitute the reltionships they gain through the new social services for real personal relationships and that is certainly dangerous. We'll need to work on that.
As far as for your scientific studies goes I think Homer would be best suited to respond,"People can cone up with statistics to prove anything. 14% of people know that."
To quote the doctor in Naked Gun: "There's a 50/50 chance he'll live, but there's only a 10% chance of that"
ReplyDeleteFor more on the public private blur check out this 8 min video on some new technology, not all that far away.
http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html
Breaking down those barriers is great n all, until the closet alcoholic who works 3 cubicles down from you has him or herself exposed when their bff tag's them in a photo, passed out cold on the bathroom floor of Billy's Bar with their pants down. Give that guy (or gal) a raise!!
ReplyDelete