Media, on a larger scale of tabloids, newspapers and news, to a smaller scale of social media and word of mouth, can sometimes fog a person’s personality to others. Moreover, media can cause people to admire someone’s personality that is shaped based on what one views from the outside.

In our day and age, isn’t it easy to get to know someone’s personality based on what you see via their social media pages?

Being on a college campus surrounded by hundreds of different people can give one the opportunity to run into the same people through passing, classes, sports and hangouts whether you know them or not. Also, we are given the opportunity to see and meet different people every day, everywhere we go. Isn’t it strange that we can always see people and not necessarily know them in person, but follow them on Instagram, Facebook and/or Twitter? It is only until we actually talk or overhear a conversation that we recognize who the person really is, not just from the outside, but also their real personality from the inside.

It is easy to judge someone based on their Instagram profile picture or what someone might say about them.

It is because of that reality that we can shape our own perceptions of people’s personalities based on what we see of them from their public image. Our imaginations can manipulate our opinions based on how the person describes themselves to others, but it is only once you really meet, chat and spend time together that one gets to know a person on some level that a real personality is revealed.

Tabloids are famous for spreading rumors and shaping a celebrity to the public based on what they report and, on some level, non-famous people are shaped by others, too. We depict someone based on what we hear about them from others and what they post on Instagram, so that when we see them in passing, we already have a preconceived notion of what they are like.

My advice is, do not try and pre-conceive someone’s personality because when you do, you could be disappointed from assumptions or pleasantly surprised; it goes both ways. Also, it is not fair to judge people because everyone deserves a chance to show their true colors. For Lent, I gave up judging others based on what I heard of them or saw of them based on social media and word of mouth. I am meeting new people every day and it never harms anyone to chat rather than just judge.

So … what's your story?