In my last article, I offhandedly burned an entire subset of the population--Instagram users--for caring too much about what other people think. I submitted that article feeling pretty good about myself because, let's face it, I'm pretty freaking hilarious.
On a now-unrelated-but-will-soon-be-revealed-to-be-related note, I just completed George Eliot's 1860 novel "The Mill on the Floss" for my English class (spoiler: they die), and I noticed something pretty troubling about it.
The classist undertones (shoutout to Cards Against Humanity for the expert terminology) relate very closely to what is happening today, and I'm not even talking about the obvious class system. I'm talking about social media.
Not to sound like a grandma or a bad journalism student, but social media has way too much power over our daily lives. I used the word "our" in the previous sentence because I am most definitely part of the problem--I'm constantly on Twitter checking out fresh memes. But that's beside the specific point I'm trying to make:
One's reputation is the most important thing they have, and that reputation is so easily changed by poor decisions that we all have to waste all our time building them up in preparation for the inevitable.
That's why Maggie, the rebellious, passionate protagonist in "Mill," constantly feels the need to be more feminine and to act more refined and, yes, boring. If there's one thing I learned from the novel and the seemingly endless class discussions, it's that status in society means more than happiness.
Fast forward to 2K17, and the fundamentals of the world haven't changed much. The world still values social placement over family, stability, and whatever else is actually solidly good. If there's one thing I learned from being a millennial, it's that status in society means more than happiness.
But why? Think about it: someone made a website called Facebook and the world turned upside-down. We are sacrificing what makes us unique so that we can join the worthless masses of selfies with non-inspiring inspirational quotes.
If I told you that your life would be infinitely better if you would just delete Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and whatever else the kids are using these days; if I told you that real life conversations are somehow better than iMessage games; if I told you that you were poisoning yourself every day, would you stop?
I urge all of you to do one simple thing: turn on your best streaming device and open up your friend's Netflix that you're leeching off of. Type in "Black Mirror" and go to season 3 episode 1: "Nosedive."
Yeah, I just gave you a rant about how terrible technology can be and then requested you watch a TV show. Trust me on this one--you'll really enjoy it, and I find that it will complete my argument sufficiently and excellently.
Don't let a good reputation ruin your life.
