November 28th
Side by side these photographs offer very apparent difference; like day and night even though it is of the same place hours a part on the same day. The one on the right is brighter, more inviting, and the overall mood can be interpreted as happy and pleasant. The picture on the left is dull, dreary, and gives a saddened mood or effect. As you read this your interpretation of these pictures are being molded by my words, the presentation on the page, the lack of or the presence of color, the mood you are in, and even who and what is around you. Social media offers a variety of ways by which we interpret our daily lives. How we present ourselves on these platforms are often based on how we want people to see us and most of the time not what truly is.
This disconnect has made two things very apparent to me, one, just how much effort goes into how I want people to interpret my posts; secondly, my interpretations have been disrupted by SNS. Who I present myself to be on my SNS’s is often a daunting task. I spend an overwhelming amount of time taking the best picture, then for days deliberating and editing it to make sure that it is the best one suited to be posted. After that I must find the best quote that must accompany the post in order for it to be a full package. This process offers a predisposed interpretation that in some way distorts my actual being. My skin color is altered, my pose is fixed and stiff, and my self-worth is often determined or measured by how many people like or comment on the picture. I believe that this process has also effected the way I interpret things. I do believe that there must be criteria in order to present something online but when we take the time to manipulate an image so much that we change the actual meaning I think that is where we all as users have missed the mark.
Our interpretations have a lack of solitude; they cannot stand alone but must be reaffirmed by others and what others think. Who and how we are online is determined by what others think and how they will see us. This disconnect has allowed me the chance to change this if it for a few days. I am giving myself the chance to see things based on my own truths and to keep them that way even though opinions whether negative or positive are given. With the images presented above I had an idea and it was not based on fashion, or a particular worldly event, or even purpose, but it was based on the moment. There is no meaning or attached caption because the image stands alone. It has my own opinion and that is that it was just two photos I wanted to take. Becker said, that solitude with this disconnect would allow me to connect to the world around me and would allow me interpret things when see or needed fit. It has been a new experience to see an image or create an image without ideals. To see an image, stand alone and leave that image as such without interpretations or captions has given me new perspective on how exactly social medias predispose what we see and how we see them.
Signed Off 