Pictures, snippets and posts | Opinion
Some days, my house looks like this...
But some days my house looks like this...
Now tell me, oh wise, all-knowing internet-land, do either of these pictures tell you whether or not I'm a good person? A good mother?
Well do they?
If these pictures can't tell you if I'm achieving a gold star level of motherhood achievement, then perhaps the snippets I share on this blog, or my Facebook page, can give you an accurate picture of the sort of person and mother I am?
Yes?
No?
Do these pictures and snippets and posts convey accurately the way my heart bleeds for my children? Do they tell you how I worry every day about doing the right thing by my girls? How i strive to be a good wife, daughter, sister or friend? Do they convey the love I feel for my children when I look at their beautiful faces? Do they accurately portray the times when I lose my temper and I snap and yell at my girls? Do they show you the guilt I feel when I lose my shit and fail to be the kind of mother I strive to be?
Do they show you that I do my very best to keep a clean and tidy house, a healthy house, that won't be a hazard to my girls safety and well being? Do they show you that some days I fail miserably when it comes to being the perfect housewife and mother and keep my house in perfect working order?
Do they let you see the minutiae of my days, the 86, 400 seconds of my day that I spend being the person that I am, the mother that I am?
Or are they simply just pictures, snippets and posts from my life? A part of my story but not the whole story?
Are the pictures and snippets and posts that make up your online persona a real and TRUE representation of your life and you as a person and mother?
Are they reflective of what you truly think and feel and do from one moment to the next, in your crazy, imperfect life?
Are you happy for me to make snap judgements and assumptions about the type of person and mother you are, based on what you show on the internet and social media?
No?
Then why are you so quick to make judgements and assumptions about other people based on the snippets you see of them on the internet?
Why are you so quick to put the boot in when you only have part of the story, couldn't ever possibly know the whole of the story, based on the pictures and snippets and posts that others put out there of themselves?
Pictures, snippets and posts. Part of the story but not the whole story.
Before you rush to condemn and judge others for the part of their lives you see online, perhaps you could take a second to think about what it really is that you're seeing.
Perhaps you could take a second to think hey, we're all different, we all have challenges, we all have successes and failures in this glorious, fucked up adventure we call life.
Perhaps you could think about the pictures and snippets and posts you share, the part of the story, but not the whole story, that you allow people to see, before you rush to make judgements and assumptions about others.
Perhaps if we allow ourselves to feel even the tiniest bit of empathy, and push aside our self-righteous indignation at the part of the story that's not the same as ours, we could make this magical internet place a happier one.
A more caring one.
A more supportive one.
Because I know I can't get the whole story of your life from the pictures and snippets and posts that you share online, so let's not assume that we can get the whole story from someone else's.
Because we all know that when we assume we make an ass out of u and me and we make ourselves look like bitch-face, Judgey McJudgerson's when we do.
And I know that's not the whole story of you.
Do you think it's fair to judge someone based solely on the snippets they share online? Have you been guilty of doing it and forgetting that even when people are keeping it real that it's still not always the whole story?
Note: I wrote this post in September last year. It wasn't in response to something that anybody said to me, just something that had been percolating in my brain watching others be villified and judged based solely on the small, tiny, snippets of their lives they chose to share online. And while I wrote it last year, I think it's just as relevant today, no?
Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT.
But some days my house looks like this...
Now tell me, oh wise, all-knowing internet-land, do either of these pictures tell you whether or not I'm a good person? A good mother?
Well do they?
If these pictures can't tell you if I'm achieving a gold star level of motherhood achievement, then perhaps the snippets I share on this blog, or my Facebook page, can give you an accurate picture of the sort of person and mother I am?
Yes?
No?
Do these pictures and snippets and posts convey accurately the way my heart bleeds for my children? Do they tell you how I worry every day about doing the right thing by my girls? How i strive to be a good wife, daughter, sister or friend? Do they convey the love I feel for my children when I look at their beautiful faces? Do they accurately portray the times when I lose my temper and I snap and yell at my girls? Do they show you the guilt I feel when I lose my shit and fail to be the kind of mother I strive to be?
Do they show you that I do my very best to keep a clean and tidy house, a healthy house, that won't be a hazard to my girls safety and well being? Do they show you that some days I fail miserably when it comes to being the perfect housewife and mother and keep my house in perfect working order?
Do they let you see the minutiae of my days, the 86, 400 seconds of my day that I spend being the person that I am, the mother that I am?
Or are they simply just pictures, snippets and posts from my life? A part of my story but not the whole story?
Are the pictures and snippets and posts that make up your online persona a real and TRUE representation of your life and you as a person and mother?
Are they reflective of what you truly think and feel and do from one moment to the next, in your crazy, imperfect life?
Are you happy for me to make snap judgements and assumptions about the type of person and mother you are, based on what you show on the internet and social media?
No?
Then why are you so quick to make judgements and assumptions about other people based on the snippets you see of them on the internet?
Why are you so quick to put the boot in when you only have part of the story, couldn't ever possibly know the whole of the story, based on the pictures and snippets and posts that others put out there of themselves?
Pictures, snippets and posts. Part of the story but not the whole story.
Before you rush to condemn and judge others for the part of their lives you see online, perhaps you could take a second to think about what it really is that you're seeing.
Perhaps you could take a second to think hey, we're all different, we all have challenges, we all have successes and failures in this glorious, fucked up adventure we call life.
Perhaps you could think about the pictures and snippets and posts you share, the part of the story, but not the whole story, that you allow people to see, before you rush to make judgements and assumptions about others.
Perhaps if we allow ourselves to feel even the tiniest bit of empathy, and push aside our self-righteous indignation at the part of the story that's not the same as ours, we could make this magical internet place a happier one.
A more caring one.
A more supportive one.
Because I know I can't get the whole story of your life from the pictures and snippets and posts that you share online, so let's not assume that we can get the whole story from someone else's.
Because we all know that when we assume we make an ass out of u and me and we make ourselves look like bitch-face, Judgey McJudgerson's when we do.
And I know that's not the whole story of you.
Do you think it's fair to judge someone based solely on the snippets they share online? Have you been guilty of doing it and forgetting that even when people are keeping it real that it's still not always the whole story?
Note: I wrote this post in September last year. It wasn't in response to something that anybody said to me, just something that had been percolating in my brain watching others be villified and judged based solely on the small, tiny, snippets of their lives they chose to share online. And while I wrote it last year, I think it's just as relevant today, no?
Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT.
Find me here:
- One Perfect Moment {Editing Life} | Life
- Twelve {52 week project} | Photography
- Linky Lovin' Friday {20th March 2015} | Reading
- Taking Stock {March 2015} | Life
- One Perfect Moment {Saying Goodbye} | Life
- Eleven {52 week project} | Photography
- The first Tosser Trophy of 2015 goes to... | Ranty McRanterson
Comments
I did manage to get out on Sunday to a kids movie preview and even had my photo taken with other bloggers. It zapped all my energy for the rest of the day but my girls enjoyed the film and it was a great outing.
I usually post all the shiny, beautiful things on the internet - not because I'm ashamed, just because I don't think people want to see the "mess". But I really do think that what people like is "keepin it real"
I looked at the pictures and thought you have a small house like mine and the lounge room is the only place the kids have to play with their toys.
I posted pics last week on my blog of The Tornadoes room. And you are right, it is a snippet of day to day... you could never convey real life as a whole online. Real life is full on and complicated.
Great post xoxo
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