It seems to me if you’re in the mood to post nostalgia on
social media – and who isn’t? from time immemorial we humans have been accustomed to
the idea of seeing our early life as glory years, when we were more handsome
(more beautiful), had more energy (more fun) and were less unencumbered (money
worries? us?) – then post those vintage snaps every day, not just on Throwback Thursday.
In fact, when you look at the pictures that people use to
identify themselves on social media, the very notion of here and now – like what
is happening, or what is on your mind – is being filtered by that vision of a
better time, that Throwback Thursday, if you will. That photo on social media
we show the world doesn’t look like the face we look at every morning in the
mirror. It’s posed, caught in one perfect moment or another, often in such a
way that when you actually see the flesh and blood person and not the Facebook “friend,”
you won’t even recognize him (her) because, well, she (he) looks like someone
else.
I propose to throw back Throwback Thursday. Why kid
ourselves, the majority of us long for the past, not just on one day of the
week. A time when spring rolled around and lo and behold the mind did turn to
thoughts of love. Why don’t we just call it what it is: the Throwback Internet?
That is, unless you’re a millennial. Then social media is
all you’ve known. And there’s no simple blogpost prescription that can help to interpret and navigate the psychic potholes of that mental landscape.
Next: Running for Your Life: In My Blood by Pascal Dupuis
