Recently, there was some massive viral blow-up over some social media influencer (on Tiktok, I think) making a big show out of picking up trash on the beach in Bali — and being filmed doing so — and then walking away, leaving the filled trash bags sitting on the beach.
The Good, Bad and Indifferent of Instant Publication
There is light and shadow in almost all things.
If you back off and take the 50,000-foot overhead perspective, the Internet is an awesome invention because it allows us to have instant communication with like-kind people all over the world. That's light. That's a benefit. That's a step forward.
On the shadow side, it seems that we have now reached a place where our lives have transitioned from merely being our lives to — for many people — being public performances. Everything from your bowl of cereal to a world record juggling attempt is now published.
Sure, there's a million opinions out there, but does anyone really know where we're headed?
I don't know shit, and I know that I don't know shit. What I do know — purely based on repeated personal observation — is that being cool, altruistic, benevolent, kind, narcissistic and various other things have become increasingly conceptualized as opposed to simply being what you are.
It reminds me of something one of my spiritual Teachers observed a long time ago: "If you're truly GREAT, you don't need to tell people. People tell YOU."
I live by the beach. I walk on the beach regularly, sometimes for hours and miles. I beach comb.
I also pick up trash when I walk around out there, meditating. Nobody knows. Perhaps nobody cares. Don't know if anyone notices.
For It's Own Sake... a Lost Art in the Age of Narcissism?
I just don't like trash on the beach, so I pick it up and put it in the bin back at the car park.
It's just something I do. It's not a photo op, virtue signaling, a cry for attention, an invitation for praise or anything else... and it honestly makes me feel exhausted to even think about litter picking in those terms.
People talk a lot about the level of narcissism in our times. Everyone is just "about themselves." But perhaps these showy stunts speak more to how disconnected and insignificant and possibly powerless people generally feel. They just want to be seen, and the "noise" of the world gets louder and louder.
Thanks for visiting, and have a great weekend!
How about YOU? Have you heard of this latest "storm in a teacup?" Do you think social media — the the need to "influence" — makes people narcissistic? DO leave me a comment — engagement matters! Communities are built because people INTERACT with each other through the content that's created! This is SOCIAL media, after all. So share your opinion, be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer all worthy comments!
Sequence: 079 — Timestamp: 2023.07.14 - 19:47 PDT
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It would be great if picking up trash on the beach, parks, sidewalks went viral … it would be much better if people just put their own garbage in a garbage bin. If people post stuff like throwing their own trash in the garbage and people started copying this practice that would be great.
That would, indeed, be awesome.
It's just a shame that there are people — like the person in the controversial story — who are more interested in virtue signaling than in actually getting trash off the beach...
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