The World and Me

(original post date: April 9th, 2011)

Lots of things are happening in the world lately what with US government shut-down controversy, Japan earthquakes and tsunami, and the minority government re-election in the homeland… But lots of things are also happening in the micro-world of mine. In this new digital age, I’ve seem to shortened my attention span. I lose interest in reading long articles that are of the informative nature, watch videos half-way through, can’t focus on completing one simple task and would move on to something else or get distracted.

I suppose this is the problem a lot of kids today have. No doubt it’s giving parents headaches. I mean, while I recognize that it’s an alarming issue, I don’t know what I can do about it other than the good ol’ will-power to restrain myself. Since my attention spans have gotten shorter, so have the thoughts that linger in my head. They come and go really quickly, and if I don’t grasp it right then, I may never find it back.

[insert case-in-point tangent off on SFU LipDub happenings. 15mins later: I'm back here, pondering exactly what was the point I was trying to make]

I guess all it comes down to is that because my world is a little crazy at the moment, I can’t process other worldly information (that might be of importance but would require investigation and understanding). The good news is that once my world is not so insane any more, I’d start to pay more attention, probably. I am at picture lock with my grad film. So that means I finally move onto sound work! And I’ve just finished one short documentary as a final project for another class. I was very proud of myself I managed to make it somewhat decent! Things are certainly coming to a close now that the semester’s over, but I am still functioning in post-production mode and handling full work-loads.

Today in the Burnaby Newsleader (our local newspaper), I read that an online identity is like a tattoo: even though it is in the cyber world, it can leave a long-lasting mark if not maintained properly and carefully. The metaphor struck me. Everyone has, to a certain degree of prominence, a version of themselves on the internet. But I would think that those images of us would be the best ones we present. Because, let’s admit it, we are intelligent animals with egos. We’d go at lengths to let others know about our accomplishments. Who really wants to create bad impressions? So I’ve never thought about the negative consequences of poor choices that reflect in the images of us on the interwebz. Maybe because I have none -or so I think- I’ve neglected to see the other, ugly side of a virtual identity. Or maybe it’s because I still approach every bit of information I receive from the internet with skepticism.

Whatever may be the reason, this “good” and “bad” stuff is purely objective. I think what we can do is create the best representations of ourselves on the ‘net. When I say best I do not wholly mean “positive”, I also mean the most accurate reflections of our own uniqueness. That is the only way we can do ourselves justice.