You only get one chance to make a first impression, the facts support that. It takes less than a minute for someone to sum you up, and that initial analysis is how they'll define you from there on in. Well unless you do something dramatically adverse to that initial assumption, but we'll leave that to another day.
Now the above is always fine for person on person interactions, but what about online? Do individuals come across a profile and judge that person based on their posts, what they have mentioned as interests, their layout, and their recent activities? Well maybe in some cases, but by the time one goes to all the work of reading someone's profile; we end up with a fairly good idea of who said person actually is. So I guess the online first impression more so based on how much effort someone has put into their profile, or their introduction; and as such, the time limit is often more than one minute.
Well that is certainly fine and dandy, but one prevailing question comes to mind, how do we know that we can actually trust this information? Photoshop can lead us to believe we're viewing a certain person, where as in reality, this person looks completely different than their display picture has lead us to believe. And let's be honest, how often have any of us omitted details about ourselves to try and appeal to a certain group of people, to appear 'cooler' so to speak. And I am not accusing anyone, I've done it myself on occasion, it’s just a part of today's society. Today it almost seems like conforming is just human nature. Even so called 'anti-conformist' trends deal with conforming to some form of image. I may not have been a preppy, made-over Barbie Doll in high school, but I was definitely waking up in the morning with the mindset to ensure I kept up with my apparent 'emo' visage. I guess it had more to do with not wanting to find myself alone, the reality that who I actually was couldn't possibly find a group to associate with. Maybe that is why everyone conforms in some aspect to a certain group, whether or not this group was classified as main stream or not. Very few people seek loneliness, so we so often forsake who we are, as a result of this prevailing fear.
This seems rather problematic at first, but that's high school more or less. Personally, come grade twelve I was on the road to discovering who I was, whether I belonged in a group with strict personality guidelines or not. And do you know what; it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Once I began to identify myself, I met people with common interests. And I am not saying I was deceiving people for nearly four years of my teenage life, it was just that I would hide certain aspects of myself. I felt I couldn't tell most people that I watched anime, nor that my musical preferences were rarely found on Much Music, and in fact most North American radio stations (as a side note, YouTube, what an awesome site for my music tastes, it has everything). The thing is by the time I turned nineteen, I had a hard time understanding why I was so afraid to be me, or more so, why it was so hard for me to allow myself to actually live my life, as defined by me.
That to me is a problem society is dealing with today. For the most part individuals are too busy trying to please other people, they often forget about themselves in the process. And yet wonder why they are so miserable later on, it's the natural consequence of losing oneself for another. But I guess now I am getting away from the point of this post...my point is we cannot trust the information we see on a profile, nor the first assumptions we gather from people seconds from being introduced to them. Most people are hiding behind some form of a mask, and it takes time to see the person behind the social guise. This can usually be done by investing the time to get to know the person; usually the best way to do it is to befriend someone. So many of us miss out on life changing people, solely because we only seen the mask, not the person behind it.
Now back on topic. The reason why I am avoiding the traditional introductory post (name, email, hobbies, interests, reasons for typing this blog, etc.) is because it would go against the reason why it was founded. I do not want people deciding what type of person I am based off of a clichéd list of my interests, activities, and hobbies; I would rather people evaluate who I am based upon my writing. What an author writes is a more unconventional way of discovering who a person is, especially when writing on their opinions. Questions will be answered in time, and since I am prone to rambling on for ages, I am sure you will get a good idea of who I am from one post. My goal is to be honest, discuss various issues of today, or at times random cultural phenomenon and fandoms. Whatever the post may be, I hope you enjoy.
Thank you
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