Plato and Instagram

There we were. Daniel and me, just talking about Plato. You know, Philosophy Fridays. (Okay, …it really just came up because that book I read.)I asked him if he knew about the allegory of the cave. He did not. I read some information to him about it. In doing so I said “So-Crates.” He corrected my pronunciation.

“You know I was kidding saying it that way, right?”

 “I do now.”

I had a moment of disbelief and questioned all my parenting, “Did I not make you watch ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure’!?” He shrugged. “Strange things are afoot at the Circle K?!” Nothing. I told him we’d need to remedy that , then we went back to the allegory of the cave.

I’m not a philosopher so I’m sure I’ll jack up the explanation, but it’s something along the lines of this: there’s some people imprisoned. They don’t see real life, all they see are the shadows of puppets. One breaks loose. Sees actual reality. Understands he was wrong when he thought the shadows were real, and tries to get the others to leave.  But they choose to remain imprisoned, with the manufactured reality.

Plato died nearly 2,400 years ago. Sooooo,….it’s highly unlikely that the shadows he was talking about were actually social media, but Danny and I concur; it’s got the potential to be the exact same situation.

There’s expectations about how people are supposed to social media. You can brag, but not too much. If you complain or vaguebook  you’re maybe attention seeking. If you post something that hits a nerve with too many someones, you can find yourself in a weird situation even as a grown ass adult. There can be pressures to post about jobs. You can find yourself in trouble for posting too much about your job. There’s so many unspoken rules, but what it all boils down to is that your social media presence can very easily become your manufactured reality.

I’m a social media fan. I call it Friend News. I’m able to see things I wouldn’t otherwise see like coworkers babies laughing uncontrollably, or all the first days of school. I also get to keep posing young Dirty’s very excited “first day of school” song and dance, or other things that spark my interest. There’s not a need for any of us to stop. But like with all things, just please don’t mistake appearance for reality. Don’t feel pressured that you didn’t have the pinterest grade chalk sign in the first day of school or if your kids look like a-holes in their pictures. That’s real life in all it’s flaw-some glory. Enjoy it, and don’t get too caught up in making a really interesting shadow.