Who am I… and what is the truth?

A friend told me that she finds it difficult to connect with her three tech-savvy kids. They are in a world of their own even if they are together at home. They do not talk much as a family because her children are more focused on their gadgets. They sleep next to their phones and check them for messages and social media posts as soon as they wake up in the morning. These kids are born social. They prefer to communicate digitally than to interact personally.

In one click, they get an avalanche of ideas, thoughts and insights that can be accessed across media platforms ­ more often, reviews and reactions from the online community or netizens. Some are valid while others are non-sensical, even poisonous and destructive.

In showbiz, digital kibitzers and trolls would diss and hiss at celebrities like they were Big Brother. While others would praise and venerate their idols like demigods who are imperishable.

Vloggers, bloggers and influencers have become the arbiters of the digital universe. They have hundreds of thousands (even millions) of followers. How does one get followers on Facebook, likes on Instagram, subscribers on YouTube?

On Facebook, it’s important to show photos of your daily itinerary so people know that you’re relevant. On Instagram, captions must be sexy and stories must be fun and delicious for people to comment. There are available apps that can enhance photos or apps that can guide you on what captions to use — all for social media peeps to adore and appreciate. Millennials can get lost in the noise of social media if they are not cautious. 

Filtered photos are just for posting. I think that one’s identity, warts and all, will always be more important and relevant, even if they are not post-worthy. Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray recently posted a photo showing her natural look and without make-up. “This is the skin I wake up in every day. I love playing with make-up and being glam, but I’ve also grown to love the skin I wake up in acne scars, moles and all. I too have days when I don’t feel confident, or my insecurities are louder... but that’s okay. Loving yourself as you are is a journey, but it’s a journey worth taking,” she said on her post.

Images on social media provoke millennials of today to ask the difficult questions, “Who am I and what is my truth?”

Here are random thoughts on the technologization of the human being, particularly the young peeps of today.

The bad points are:

1. The need for validation. Virtual appearances and behavior are not tantamount to the real person. When the enhanced and curated being is validated while the real imperfect person is invisible, the problem of disconnection between these identities can cause alarming schizophrenic tendencies.

2. The pressure to be desirable. Filtered flawless photos dominate the social media landscape. Everyone is gorgeous and fabulous. This is an illusion for most.

3. The devaluation of personal connection and conversation as opposed to the power of emoticons (like love, laugh, cry, angry, etc.). People are not conversing with other people anymore. Feelings are just emojis.

4. The destruction of the family. You go to a restaurant or a home of a friend. Fathers, mothers and their children are either on their mobile phones or watching television. Family members are not talking to each other anymore. Everything is communicated through gadgets. What happens here is everyone is isolated — which can lead to anti-social behavior, even mental health problems.

5. The breeding of shallow even fake relationships. Dating apps are the main sources of potential boyfriends and girlfriends. Imagine relationships built on curated courtship.

6. The celebration of the filtered reality. The digital reality for most millennials is their first world — more real than what they see and smell at home, in school, in the streets. Sadly for most, more likes are equal to more real.

7. The truth that between  presentation and integrity — presentation matters more on social media. The lighting, the editing, the captioning that generate more likes are more important.

Meanwhile, there are also good things that social media bring about like:

1. Expression of like and love is quick and explicit. Done to a mother consistently can be nurturing.

2. Distance now in the wired world of technology is blurred. With Skype, Facetime, etc., OFW families can put this into good use. This provides connections among family members.

3. E-commerce has no boundaries anymore. For the enterprising millennial, this is a bustling business paradise.

4. Communication is faster. Just one click and you transmit your message. But what the message is makes the difference.

5. The Internet is a rich oasis of research and information. If in the past, one must spend days to read up on a political theory for instance, today one searches it in seconds. 

6. Access to online education is democratized. This can improve lives of many.

7. With caution and discernment, access to news and commentary is quick and easy.

Digital identities are about us struggling not to get lost in the noise of the mob. It’s about our children searching for identity amidst the sexy panorama of emoticons, GIFS and TikToks. Who doesn’t like to be loved and adored by the multitude? Oh well, I’m happy to have grown outside the digital universe. I’d rather be real than curated — warts, scars, flabs and all! — With reports from Andrei de Guzman