It is the generation that we can communicate with almost anyone in the world through social networking. You can look into not only your friends’ daily lives but also friends of friends’ through personal computers or smart phones. Virtually limitless information is pouring out of the net whether you need it or not. As we scroll through, we unconsciously store all information into the brain. In actuality however, how trustworthy would all the live information be?
Look back at your posts and updates of daily life. Are you posting only the 100% true and real information about yourself? Maybe you can see the answer straightaway. As soon as you click ‘Post,’ you become conscious of the hundreds of eyes that are looking at you. As a result, you reveal only what you want others to see about you.
What do you think others would do? We can only see the edited facts, not the truth beyond. The image of yourself that you want to have revealed to others is like a wrapping paper covering up the truth. Then this “gift” is delivered to other people. What results would this type of posted and shared information bring?
Human mind endlessly compares the ‘ego,’ some image of oneself, with other images outside of oneself. We endlessly compare ourselves with siblings during childhood, friends at school, colleagues at work, and celebrities. In this way, we repeat the process of forming and destroying the ego. The conviction about yourself is not solid and grounded because the image that you believe to be ‘yourself’ is not even real. You always feel insecure, and your inside clashes with your outside.
The ‘ego’ that has been created through this process is only an aggregate of countless information and not real. That’s why it continuously copies the false images and expands it ever more. The space called ‘the internet’ has become an effective tool to show your false images to the world. In a world of networks where individuals are connected to one another, you only end up showing off made-up images of yourself; others that you see are also the false images. However, just as we cannot recognize that our ego is false, we are always deceived by the ‘made-up’ images of others. We compare ourselves with those images that are revealed to us – looking happy, superior, and seemingly like they have everything (that they don’t even need anymore); and we are disappointed at our own situations while desiring and being jealous about something that others possess.
The human habit of repeatedly comparing ‘me’ and ‘you’ has been starkly revealing on the social network. We competitively upload the edited information and become unhappy by seeing others’ information. We imagined that our life would be happier if we could communicate with others more broadly. However, we continuously become unhappy. In fact, happiness and unhappiness come from one’s mind. However, we don’t look back at our mind but hold on to the information from the outside world. Eventually, we become unhappy with the SNS.
Now, let’s think about how to happily enjoy the SNS.
First of all, it would be right to find happiness within, rather than trying to find happiness from outside conditions. Wouldn’t it be a wiser option to look back at yourself and contemplate your own mind rather than to always look towards outside information? Why don’t you abandon the false self that has low self-esteem and compares with others and find your true self? Wouldn’t it be the fastest way to reach happiness?
There is no end with the comparing mind of humans. We keep running towards something better, nicer and the best but such a goal always seems out of reach. Happiness can truly come when you can acknowledge and love the way you are, as it is; not when you become higher and better than others. Above all, when you examine more closely the information about yourself that you have been uploading so far, you would be able to objectively examine yourself. If you cannot find ‘your real self’ from there, delete it one by one. You will have freedom more and more as you are eliminating that ‘false you’ one by one. It is just okay to delete it because the images of yourself that have been made up only as a display to others do not exist in the world anyway.
Furthermore, the moment that you detect yourself checking information on SNS with your smart phone before going to sleep, put down the technology for some meditation time. Look back at yourself and empty out the useless information that becomes jumbled and messy in your head. All the answers are in you; what you truly want and where the true happiness really exists.
From the moment that you wholly become happy, the modern conveniences, such as SNS’s and the internet would be useful tools that you can freely control and utilize, not an addictive tool that is bothering you. The moment you find ‘your true self,’ the life not as a slave but as a master will begin.
