"In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes." - Andy Warhol Stokholm, 1968"In the future, everyone will be anonymous for 15 minutes." - Banksy (British graffiti artist), sometime recently
Facebook is not my friend. As I type this post, pictures are being uploaded to facebook several of which end up in my inbox. "You have been tagged in a picture!" is the message, as if I'm supposed to be thrilled. This is all part of a reunion project that someone from my college years - from the years when I wore wire rimmed glasses and Birkenstocks with socks and abhorred the thought of wearing make up. "A girl," I reasoned, "should be valued for her brain, not her appearance, and if people think that t-shirts three sizes too big aren't sexy, then they can go (do something very unpleasant to) themselves." It was a time before I learned the value of a push up bra or the power that the smart stilleto stomper could wield.
Also it was a time when I was more free, a tree climbing philosopher, and less of a tax paying, 401K concerned grown-up. Though a necessary time in my life, one that made me who I am today, I can tell you with absolute certainty that the girl in the pictures - the ones that are currently being broadcast to my friends, family, students, colleagues, acquaintances and so forth - in this, my fifteen minutes of Facebook fame, are wholly ridiculous, comically embarrassing.
Please. Please make it stop. ;)
This post was inspired by the Loose Bloggers Consortium, a small and feisty(!) global community. We write weekly on a common topic (15 Minutes of Fame, this week) and post responses - all of us together, simultaneously, from all over the world. (Lovely!) Please visit Anu, Conrad, gaelikaa, Grannymar, Judy, Magpie 11, Maria and Ramana for other wonderful posts.
12 comments:
I feel your pain. I hate Facebook and the fact that family members keep tagging me in photos. My late teens were painful as I looked like a skeleton with skin - a coat-hanger had more shape. :(
Ginger and Grannymar. You have another sympathizer. I haven't yet been tagged but it woun't be too long before I am and I try to prevent it by telling everyone who invites me to be friends on FB that I rarely visit it and that they should not expect me to participate much.
I love Facebook, but I have had a couple of rather unflattering pictures show up there. I just untag myself and pretend that no one else can see them. Ignorance is bliss!
I understand your feelings about facebook. I go there for family and close friends only and mostly to tell them I have a new post on the blog or photos in the album. (I do like being able to put up family photos so easily.) When I had first suggested 15 Minutes of Fame, I never thought of facebook or the way it used. A very interesting insight into fifteen minutes of fame on facebook.
I use Facebook to keep up with friends and relatives. I don't play those silly games and if I get tagged to something I don't like, I ignore it. I do a few harmless things there now and again, but if someone doesn't respond I don't mind. I just suit myself basically. Living so far from 'home' I have to say that I do find it useful.
"remove tag" IS my friend
We can't change the past-- well not really, but we can try. But we do have some control over the present and how it is reflected in the future. I guess it's a good idea to tend to the way we look if there's a camera in the room --or hide if we need to.
Lee
I liked reading this entry and some of your older entries. I liked the quote at the top of your blog.
I stumbled into your blog and I am glad that I did.
Tom Bailey
Oh, Ginger, you bring back so many great, laughable memories! We were so serious in our youth, gonna change the world. And, did, of course, just like everyone who comes along. But, looking back, we were SO goofy! Pants on the ground has nothing on us.
I've removed myself in several people's pictures.
But the thing is, you were absolutely beautiful then. I mean, I wanted to be just like you.
Wait. Maybe I wanted to be just like you, only with more flannel added in.
Yes. That's it.
This post was super cute...and I say that not because of the way it was formatted or the color scheme... :)
Just delete you account if you hate facebook so badly.
I hate the whole photo tagging feature of FB. I think I may have disabled it but if not, I head right over to the photo and untag myself.
BTW we all had those braless, Birkenstock\waring, makeupless periods. They are part of who we are now.
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