
Today, it takes just a fraction of a second for you to send a message to anyone, anywhere on the globe, as opposed to the use of telegram, for example, in the preceding decades. Our world today is arguably better off with technology. Honestly, a lot of things can be done faster, easier, and cheaper today than ever before. And as the decades go by, we see increasing advancement in existing technology. However, questions are being asked concerning the adverse effects of technology on our lives as human beings. One area which draws massive attention is the impact of technology on reality.
Does technology blur the line between reality and deceit? Or, are we losing our grip on reality because of technology?
According to Erin Vogel, a postdoc studying social media and well-being in the Department of Psychiatry, University of California, "people present selectively positive versions of themselves on social media".
This is a careful art of filtering out the negative stuff and presenting only the nice and sweet aspects of their lives for their followers – you and I – to see. Some people take it a step further by sharing expensive lifestyles and purchases that are way beyond their means. The ripple effect on the people who are on the other side of the screen is a misleading fake reality. A questionable paradox, which, if taken at face value, will ultimately lead to a high level of deceit.
You are likely to make an undue comparison if you didn't know better, and such is the story of many young persons today.
What we see on social media can make you feel less of yourself if you allow yourself to fall for them. Social media influencers are trying to keep up their followership and expensive status at all costs. So, it may be a fatal injustice to oneself to try and compare your genuine progress with what you see on the internet.
But beyond social media, online deception has taken many different interesting and equally disturbing dimensions. Falsification of identity is one of them. The advent of deception technology has facilitated a sporadic growth of identity manipulation on the Internet. It is far easier for people to lie every day today than it was ever before.
Although researchers suggest that the same technology can be used by corporate organisations to prevent fraud and malicious attacks upon internal security features, its growing popularity does portend some negative impact on unsuspecting folks.
I'm trying to get across that not everything on the internet should be taken at face value. Quite a number of the good things we are bombarded with are far from truth or reality. Being content with your progress so far, plus a little reality check every once in a while, maybe what saves you from making an unhealthy comparison or falling for an Internet scammer.
Comments