Being on Twitter has definitely been a rollercoaster experience for me. Not to sound dramatic, I promise. Itâs just a very interesting landscape, especially as a woman. There is so much unspoken pressure to âfitâ into an âaestheticâ or a âbrandâ. Itâs easier to find likeminded people this way in a sense, to build somewhat of a community based on such ideas.
But as we know, just as life imitates art, life also imitates social media, and vice versa. This pressure to conform is present everywhere these days, and that pressure has seeped into our real lives from the confines of our phone and laptop screens. Itâs as htough the arbitrary and stereotypical ânerds vs jocksâ has been replaced with âvirgins vs Chadsâ and âbimbos vs girl bossesâ and âtrad e-girls vs feministsâ. Sometimes I think that our hunter-gatherer forefathers would be absolutely mortified and flabbergasted if they were to see the way we get to caught up in this meaningless minutia.
And this is not just an âNPCâ problem (though I often question the ethics of using a term that likens people to brainless zombified video game extras). There is so much endless lingo on the sectors of Twitter that favor themselves more centrist, right-wing, and/or traditional. What even is an âe-girlâ? How and why is âpoastingâ different than plain old âpostingâ? Why does âRWBBâ sound like a form of cryptocurrency?
Itâs just all meaningless as FUCK! Because the divinely comedic bottom line is that none of these microlabels or aspects of âpersonal brandingâ are making people any less miserable or any more connected, accepted, or fulfilled. Every day I see people with the most crafted aesthetics and decent followings (including myself from time to time, TBH - we all fall prey) complain about how their lives are just not where they want to be and how they wish they had ______ (fill in the blank with âpartnerâ, âfriendsâ, âcommunityâ, âsense of purposeâ - the usual suspects).
Youâd think we as ~the collective~ would have realized that these things are ineffective by now, but so far, no luck. Not only do these microlabels and aesthetics not bring us any closer to what our souls deeply desire, they deprive us of the opportunity to find and cultivate our true selves. Youâd think that a generation who watched High School Musical religiously would understand the importance of being multifaceted human beings, that Troy Bolton was every bit of a singer and performer as he was an athlete. THIS is the primary message. Why do you think the satirical bop âStick to the Status Quoâ is included in the soundtrack, right at the climax of the filmâs plot? God did not put us on this Earth to be themed Barbie doll robots with a specific theme. We are privileged to live in and experience this entire world, even more now with the internet at our disposal. Why would you limit yourself to 280 characters or what you put in your Pinterest boards? BE MULTIFACETED! BE NORMAL PEOPLE! BE HAPPY!
And finally, let me make a case of love, as I always do. This tight clutching onto masks that hide our true selves is one of the main contributors to the disconnectedness between us as people, specifically men and women in relation to romantic/interpersonal relationships. The main messaging weâre given today is that masks and deceitful games are necessary if we want to get people into our orbit. But what weâve forgotten is that being our true, authentic selves and letting our souls lay barren is what keeps people there.