A THOUSAND CROSSINGS X

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mercredi 10 novembre 2010

A penny for your thoughts

Do you remember the times when thoughts cost a penny? Well, even a dollar as The Band Perry sung in "If I Die Young" (A penny for my thoughts, oh no I’ll sell them for a dollar/They're worth so much more after I’m a goner) I don't think they cost as much these days when our thoughts are readily available on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace and on microblogging sites like Twitter and Tumblr. And I'm guilty of this too, airing my thoughts in public portals, right here on Blogger!

So, is this increasing openness a bane or a boon?

I made a recent casual comment on Facebook yesterday, "we should stop writing our feelings all over our faces, or in this modern context, all over our facebook walls. Just my 2 cents." It received a couple of likes as well as a couple of comments disagreeing with what I said. So I thought I shall delve deeper into my two-cents-worth comment.

Have you posted song lyrics in your Facebook status update, or similar? Were your really just sharing a meaningful verse, or were you trying to tell everyone how you feel and get someone to comment on it? Here's an example off my Facebook wall, "Nervously pulling at my clothes and trying to look busy/And you're doing your best to avoid me." Those are lyrics from The Story of Us by Taylor Swift. So, honestly, was I sharing just another verse from a song? No, not really, it's a subtle way of seeking attention, we all know that, don't we?

Here is another scenario. You post an interesting video, most of the time its a music video of a song that you like. But you don't post it simply because you want to share it with everyone else, do you? Here is another example off my Facebook wall again, "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPJp3wrV0OQ :D
The Corrs : What Can I Do ( Live Acoustic) HQwww.youtube.com>Good live version of their first big hit single What Can I Do (Composer- Caroline Corr, Andrea Corr, Sharon Corr, Jim Corr) I haven't slept at all in days It's been so long since we've talked And I have been here many times I just don't know what I'm doi.."
Did I post it because it sounded good? Yes it sounds good, but I don't think that is the main reason. You know it isn't the main reason too.

And other times, we decided not to use song lyrics or videos. We simply decide to post a wise proverb or a saying, or just something wise-sounding. Here is yet another example of my Facebook wall, "苟且偷生". A simple 4 Chinese characters open to everyone's interpretation. Anyway, it means to keep alive without serious ambition. So, why did I post that? It cannot simply be a random, ordinary comment right? It was meant to describe my first JC year. Okay, we digress.

Of course, there are also some times when we are completely insensitive with some comments we make. Something like this: Sigh, missed 1 mark to an A. Or: I'd rather get a B then suffer the agony of not being in the top percentile. Or even: Sigh I got 3 As. And that 1 stupid B that is half a mark from an A.

It sounds so funny as I'm typing all that, but those comments usually cut deep.

So do you see? We (ok maybe just I but I believe we all are guilty okay. haha.) publish our thoughts on public portals, depreciating the price of our thoughts (haha, this is meant to be darkly humourous), expose our vulnerable and ugly selves and allow people to read our minds like a book, in an amazingly subtle manner. But is this for the better or for worse?

Take cyber-bullying for example. Sure, I agree that punishment should be meted out to cyber bullies and they are the 21st century's latest, and soon-to-be biggest villians. But I can't help thinking that we are the ones making ourselves vulnerable. We air our thoughts publicly, thoughts that used to be private and were meant to be kept to ourselves before the advent of Facebook and other social networking sites, publishing to the world our vulnerabilities giving and cyber-bullies a chance to do their damage.

Sure, we have become more "connected", the new wave of communication technologies were supposed to form communication links around the world, bring the world closer, encourage different people to be more sensitive and understanding towards each other but how much of this has been achieved?

Regarding the point on sensitivity towards others, some of us still don't make the mark. Read this: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/146169/singaporean_blogger_arrested_charged_with_racism.html

Have we achieved what we claimed? Some may have, but a significant number of us have not. The danger with posting everything we feel online, however subtly is that what we publish cannot be erased or retraced.

So, I just think that maybe we should start being more selective with what we say and publish, just like things were before. Some things are meant to be secret, some things are meant to be kept to ourselves, some things are meant to be kept mum about. Thoughts were meant to cost a penny.

And there, my 50 cents worth.

I'm guilty, are you?

Au Revoir
yongliang

he closed his diary at {11:49}