A 13-Year-Old In A Museum
Una niña de 13 años en un museo- por Nancy Collier
En una visita reciente al Museo de Arte Moderno con una amiga y su hija, mientras deambulaba por las exposiciones del museo, me sorprendió la frecuencia con la que la hija de 13 años de mi amiga nos pedía que le tomáramos fotos (con su teléfono) en frente de la obra de arte. Con la cabeza inclinada, mirando contemplativamente las piezas, cuyas fotos publicaría más tarde febrilmente en Instagram, Snapchat y todo lo demás. Por cierto, no era la única persona joven (o mayor) que hacía esto; tod@s, al parecer, estaban ocupad@s haciéndose fotos de si mismos "experimentando" el museo.
Esto de ninguna manera es una crítica a la hija de mi amiga (ni a nadie más). Lo que era inquietante, al menos para mí, era que, entre ser fotografiada y publicar, la hija de mi amiga no mostraba ningún interés por la obra de arte, un hecho que no parecía importar ni tener nada que ver con querer mostrarse como alguien que disfruta la experiencia. Bueno, cuando yo tenía su edad, tampoco tenía interés en ir a museos, y cuando me arrastraban a ellos, no podía esperar a salir del edificio. No tener interés en el arte a su edad (y a cualquier edad) es completamente normal y no es perturbador en lo más mínimo.
Pero lo que resulta inquietante es cuánta energía dedican l@s jóvenes de hoy en día a crear una imagen de la vida que están viviendo y el personaje que "son" en esa vida. Si bien crear una imagen de un@ mism@ siempre ha sido una gran parte de crecer y descubrir nuestra identidad, las redes sociales parecen haber cambiado las reglas del juego. Las redes sociales no solo han intensificado la presión y la posibilidad de crear una autoimagen autogenerada, sino que también han distorsionado el proceso mediante el cual nos convertimos en quienes somos. L@s jóvenes ahora parecen estar creando una imagen de quiénes son en lugar de convertirse en quienes son, publicando su vida en lugar de vivirla. El esfuerzo que implica crear una identidad y hacer que se note o "siga" ha reemplazado el esfuerzo de interesarse realmente en la vida que están publicando.
No importa de qué se trate realmente la experiencia, se trata de ti, la persona que la vive. Un concierto no se trata de la música, un restaurante no se trata de la comida, un evento deportivo no se trata del deporte, un funeral no se trata de la pérdida; se trata de ti, la persona que lo hace y lo que dice el evento sobre ti. Las experiencias de la vida no se viven directamente, sino que se0utilizan como oportunidades para anunciar qué tipo de persona eres. Life now es un producto a través del cual promocionar tu imagen, pero (y aquí es donde se vuelve realmente extraño) con poca conexión con si esa imagen de la pantalla refleja con precisión tu interior.
El hecho de que publicar dónde estamos y qué estamos haciendo a menudo es más importante que estar donde estamos o hacer lo que estamos haciendo, es una de las formas más inquietantes en las que estamos cambiando a raíz de la tecnología y sus frutos. Nuestra experiencia sólo tiene sentido por la forma en que dice algo sobre nosotros, cómo ayuda a crear nuestra propia imagen. Como resultado, nos sentimos más separados y desconectados de nuestra vida; sentimos que encontrar el significado es más difícil. Cuanto más usamos la vida para crear una identidad, más separados de la vida nos sentimos. En vez de ser parte de ella, en el fluir de la vida, sentimos que tenemos que seguir generando material de vida nuevo, más material de vida, que nos anunciará, establecerá y, en última instancia, probará nuestra existencia. Mientras tanto, el abismo entre nosotros y la vida se hace cada vez más amplio.
La próxima vez que te sientas inclinad@ a publicar tu historia y todo lo que la acompaña, haz una pausa por un momento y experimenta dónde te encuentras, siente lo que se siente al vivir lo que estás viviendo, sintiendo lo que estás sintiendo, sin hacer nada con ello, sin usar la vida para tu beneficio, ni para nada en absoluto. Solo vive, sin la narrativa. Si bien puede parecer que este ejercicio podría representar una amenaza para tu identidad, hacer que pierdas la oportunidad de establecer tu valor, de hecho, el beneficio que puede ofrecer a tu verdadero yo, a eso dentro de ti que anhela ser parte y no estar separado de la vida, superará con creces cualquier pérdida incurrida. Pero no confíes en mi palabra, pruébalo tú mism@.
Preguntas semilla para la reflexión: ¿Cómo te relacionas con la distinción entre crear una imagen de quiénes somos y convertirnos en lo que somos? ¿Puedes compartir una historia personal de una época en la que pudiste desconectarte de la creación de una imagen y apoyarte en vivir la vida directamente? ¿Qué te ayuda a evitar la trampa de usar la vida como un producto para promover tu imagen?
Nancy Colier es amazona en el circuito nacional de espectáculos ecuestres y trabaja como asesora de desempeño para atletas y artistas.
Nancy Colier is an equestrian on the national horse show circuit and serves as a performance consultant to athletes and artists.
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: How do you relate to the distinction between creating an image of who we are and becoming who we are? Can you share a personal story of a time you were able to disconnect from creating an image and lean into living life directly? What helps you avoid the trap of using life as a product to promote your image?
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19 Past Reflections
On Sep 4, 2021 Vinod wrote :
"Just live, without the narrative."
Powerful! Thank you for these words.
Powerful! Thank you for these words.
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On Sep 2, 2021 Anand Chaturvedi wrote :
Absolutely brilliant articulations of what I always felt about. You said it right. I remember while I was growing up we used to wait for bus, go a long, very long train journeys, and so on. What do you do when you wait ? Imagine, day dream, think. But cut to now, we do not think, we only see. See WA, FB, Insta and so on. Nothing wrong but thinking has gone down, dreaming even more so.
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On Dec 14, 2020 Polly Hansen wrote :
Life as a product to promote an image...hmm. Well, I promoted a photo of me at the Women's March in 2016 on my FB page for a couple of years, but that was entirely sincere. But I did do something absolutely horrible, secretly in my mind, when I invited two Black friends to my 60th birthday party hoping they would introduce themselves to one another and think I was hip and cool and non-racist. Like, oh look, she has other Black friends besides me. I mean, I invited them because they are my friends and I love them, but also thought of their Blackness as making me special. I know that's creepy, but there it is. So, not using social media in this way, but other people. I also recently broke my toe and was limping down the sidewalk with my two dogs when someone approached from the other direction. I moved to the street, knowing I was exaggerating my limp and powerless over the drama that had come over me, like, I'm going to make you feel guilty because I'm the one who's ... [View Full Comment]
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On Dec 8, 2020 Lois Doig wrote :
The soul is eternal. The body is the vehicle the soul uses to experience this lifetime.
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On Dec 8, 2020 Steven Biondolillo wrote :
In July 1981, long before the "personal tech device" revolution, I had an interesting interchange with a busload of tourists traveling to Egypt. (I'd just finished competing in an international athletic competition in Israel and had decided to do a side-trip.) When the first major landmark came into view, everyone-- literally everyone--on that bus grabbed a camera and began clicking. The fact that I had no camera and was content "merely" to look at the site--experience the moment--didn't go unnoticed. "Where's your camera?!" "Where's your camera?!" "Where's your camera?!" The chorus of disbelief was loud and insistent. "I don't have a camera, and don't own one," I remember first saying, then practically shouting. "What I do instead is PAY ATTENTION! Try it... PAY ATTENTION!" Well, some of my fellow passengers looked puzzled (even confused) by my imperative, and others semi-stunned. Regardl... [View Full Comment]
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On Dec 8, 2020 Priyanka wrote :
hot take/ perspective shift - writing (literature), poetry, music, dance, cooking, art, etc. was the Social Media platform of centuries past. If you couldn't hire the best composer for your court, were you even a great king? If you couldn't commission the best artist to paint you, were you worthy of being remembered? Perhaps social media and posting in the end is not only identity but self expression, and creativity the new lived experience in the digital age, but also somewhat creates a level platform of remembrance. How many people, and moments, were not captured in ages past because they didn't find a artist?
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On Dec 8, 2020 Cletus Zuzarte wrote :
Amazingly True, Often we project our lives instead of living it, enjoying the moment and actually being the present moment, now!
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On Dec 8, 2020 Audrey Biloon wrote :
So sad....this kind of insanity makes violence possible because the connection between reality snd s px of reality is lost. the only way we can stop this insanity is for parents to seethese forms of social media as bad as narcotics and to ban them. The problem is that those thirteen year olds will (too soon) become parents who won't be able to distinguish between themselves and reality and so they will be robotic role models for their children and so on. Something needs to be done NOW to expose this insanity and to educate that this kind of instant gratification will lead to the erosion of the "human" being.
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On Dec 8, 2020 Hemant wrote :
Reading this reminded me of working in the virtual currency/gaming space. While the surface read of it was "oh - how terrible that we try to create status through these virtual goods that we buy", the next-level-down experience of it was "oh wow - we've always created/signaled status through the stuff we buy - it's just that, when it's virtual, it's harder to pretend that there's some other reason for it (like that expensive jacket that might keep you warm climbing a glacier but is not needed in SF)"
Similarly, while it's horrible to think about the social-media behavior she describes (and to recognize it in myself), it's also shining the light on something we already did long before social media - namely, creating and curating images of ourselves for others to see. Maybe there's a silver-edge to this cloud of social media, which is that those tendencies we have will become so exaggerated that we can't help but recognize and addre... [View Full Comment]
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On Dec 8, 2020 Kalyan wrote :
Appearance has become more important than reality. In other words self image has more value than self. Image is nothing but a shadow. This articles points the madness and obsession of ourselves with the shadow and helps us to focus on the light (self) that casts the shadow.
1 reply: Bec | Post Your Reply
On Dec 5, 2020 David Doane wrote :
There is a lot of creating an image occurring rather than becoming who we are. I agree with Nancy Collier that creating an image is a frequent phase, especially for young people, in figuring out our identity, and that social media fosters our creating an image instead of becoming who we are, which I think is a sad and serious problem. I'm old and am not a social media user, so I created an image all on my own and then gave it up after different amounts of time in different areas of my life until now when I am who I am. What helps me avoid the trap of using life as a product to promote an image includes often not giving a damn about my image, awareness that being who I am is satisfying like an image never is, awareness that maintaining an image is work and stressful, and awareness that an image is false and I want who I really am to be expressed and known. I also believe social media and especially the technology it is part of is here to stay, so the challenge is to use it to facili... [View Full Comment]
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On Dec 5, 2020 Sunil Mor wrote :
We are essentially a spiritual being rather than a physical human being. Soul seperates us from the body.Once we understand this eternal truth we stop the said imagery but liven the real.This disconnect helps self realisation to lead a wholesome meaningful life.
4 replies: David, Sunil, David, Sunil | Post Your Reply
On Dec 4, 2020 Jagdish P Dave wrote :
The self-image that I create is only the reflection of the outside of me. It is like stagnant water rather than the flowing river. My life is dynamic. It is not static. It is becoming. It is a process and not a product. The image ofme is not my identity which is vibrating with energy and changing. The outside of me does not represent the inside of me.
We all have potential to grow horizontally and vertically. The horizontal axisrepresents the expansion of my consciousness-my organic connection with nature and people. The vertical axis represents the depth of my relationship with nature and people. In order to experience my inner world, my true identity, I need to be with me fully without getting caught up in mentally narratingwhat happenedin the past or worryingabout what will happen in the future. It is flowing with the present. This happens when I do mindfulness meditation and practicing mindfulness in different contexts of my everyday life. This practice helps me grow on both horiz... [View Full Comment]