Emotional Stenography

The Disastrous Spread of Emotional Stenography

The Curious Case of Social Media Statuses.

Fighting change is like trying to beat back the waves of the ocean. It’s impossible. Resisting change is like postponing death. It comes around anyway – unless, of course, you are Elijah. Change is the only constant in life and has, since time immemorial, been the catalyst which ignites the eternal torch that brightens the path for the fated march of mankind towards development.

The 21st century has seen drastic series of change as compared to any other before it. The greatest of these changes by far has resulted from the pervasive power of the internet. There is hardly a facet of our lives that has not changed drastically over the past few years. This global system of computers has changed the way we learn, play, trade, seek and administer healthcare, travel, and communicate among other things.

Gone are the days when we had to write long letters to pen pals and relatives with the anxious hope that those letters would depart and arrive in one piece. Now, with the help of mobile apps, instant messaging is possible. What would have been an improbable thought in ages past is now a daily routine we cannot do without. With a smart phone and a data bundle, we can have a SnapChat. We no longer have to meet our friends in person to ask them WhatsApp or Twitter the latest gossip.  We have all become citizens of the biggest country called Facebook; defeating the difficulty of distance by the power of Skype.  In a sentence, we are all Linkedin an unbroken worldwide web.

Like many good things however, these apps have a dangerous downside – the disastrous spread of emotional stenography. (Well, I made that up.) Simply defined, emotional stenography is a phenomenon where people ran to their statuses, walls, snaps and pages to display whatever their emotions dictate to them – anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, pain, excitement, anticipation, trust, etc. no matter how deep or personal.

As a result, many have made a community project of their privacy and paid dearly for it. Good news or bad, they are quick to bypass those around them and announce to those away from them. They ask questions, argue, announce, bath, beg, brief, confer, confess, cook, discuss, disclose, display, expect, explain, eat, insist, insult, sleep, pray, propose, wish and basically live on their statuses.  Many more have posted things that cost them permanently because they listened to the voice of a temporary emotion. Sadly, most people have become the tools of the things they were supposed to use. 

Next time, instead of running to your status to publicize an emotion, please pause and think the decision through. What would you think of 'you' if you were one of the viewers? What effect or impression may it have on others? How would others interpret it? Is that something you really want to share? Having asked and answered these, we would be clear, I believe, on the right thing to do. 

Maybe not.