Now You See Me

When I was in college, my photography professor said something about pictures that I haven't forgotten. He said that our generation has begun to take pictures by the millions and billions. The mental culture that this has created is this: we are the first generation in history who has ever had to prove that we are alive. We take pictures by the millions to prove that we are not invisible.

It has become part of our cognition that, if you don't have pictures of yourself doing something, it never happens. If you didn't take any pictures of yourself on your trip, it is just as good as if you didn't go. If you have no pictures to show from your experience, then honestly, how much good actually was it? What was really the point? For the first time ever, just being alive and experiencing is not enough, and we as people have to evidence ourselves.

Another way that this phenomenon is affecting us is, not surprisingly, with Facebook and social media. The social media experience is beginning to be linked to several mental disorders and problems, including depression, loneliness, and anxiety. There are many facets and causes for this, but one of those is the inherent nature of comparison.

By nature of the site, people put up pictures of themselves at their happiest. They are smiling, they are showing off their cool trip, they are giving you the best flashes of their experience. You don't see anyone taking a picture of herself, on her bed alone and sad, and putting that up there.

So, for people who are lonely or depressed and are sitting alone in their rooms on Facebook, they are already feeling alone and down and sad, and they go on Facebook and this is the message: not only are you sad, but you are the only one. Everyone else you know is happy and having fun. No one is depressed but you. And here are 10,000 pictures of everyone you know to prove it. And now your depression and sadness and loneliness are coupled by this sense of isolation and this sentiment that no one is sad but you, your experience is not only hard, it's super abnormal. Your depression becomes cyclical.
I don't have much to say about this other than that I wanted to remember the thought.