Mainstream Anonymity

I’ve never quite been able to understand what makes the internet so addicting. Is it the immediate updates for anything news? The networking? The blogging? Who knows…For so many of us, it’s something I’m sure we would have a difficult time trying to go a month without. But then again, there are those people that do that. People that we encounter day in and day out that find the old-fashioned cliché of not needing new technology to live which I think may be one of the greatest things ever. It’s the people who don’t need that comfort zone. That shield people create to hide things and basically advertise other things about themselves.

Now maybe not everyone is guilty of this, but it could be even the smallest thing (and we’ll use Facebook as an example). Have you ever untagged yourself in a picture or deleted a picture because you felt embarrassed or just felt like you didn’t look good enough in it? Filled out of your About Me section, but left out one of the biggest parts of your life because you thought it might look a little better if it wasn’t there? Or for that matter, possibly stretching the boundaries to make yourself look a little more likeable?

Let’s face it, we’re living in a time where the majority of the people out there are star struck, create a “do-no-evil” view of themselves and ultimately, just want to be known. Yet the thing about all of this is that while we’re looking for that micro-celebrity fix trying to make ourselves up to be something we think is great, we’re playing for the opposing team. An anonymity of something millions of people do day in and day out just like you do. The people who live half way around the world from you, but share the same desires and hobbies as you do.

Now that I’ve said all this, it’s this exact thing that makes connection possible and amazing between our friends or even with completely unknown strangers that we may never meet.

Now before you start to ask, “Where the hell are you going with all of this?” I found a quote of logic and basic common sense that really stuck with me…

“New media creates new ways of knowing ourselves”

The more we associate ourselves with these places and sites that are so mainstream, the more we find the good and the bad we have going on in ourselves in addition to finding more and more people who share the same ideas, thoughts and goals as we ourselves do. It all creates a comfort level knowing maybe you aren’t the only one out there who feels a certain way about a certain subject. Or that you aren’t the only one fighting a certain battle.

And in addition to this, through the new ways of knowing ourselves, we uncover pieces of our past that open those new areas to finding people who were interested in the same things that you were. For example, I couldn’t tell you how many times I have seen someone all of a sudden just light up when talking about old 1990s Nickelodeon programs. Hearing the stories and the imaginative things, that as kids, people would think up finding the most joy you could ever imagine. Or even telling stories and somehow along the way, relating to something that may have happened which could then spark another story.

Yet while all of this is there in front of us, we don’t always see it. Not because we don’t want to, but because we get caught up in that star struck feeling of wanting to be known and not seeing the need of association. Whether we like to admit it or not, it makes life that much more calming knowing that out of the billions of people on this planet, you aren’t the only one going through a certain fate.

So how do people who don’t use the cliché Facebook, Myspace, Twitter find themselves to associate with others? Well hell…if I knew that I probably wouldn’t be here jabbing on about all of this. All in all, we all have our own ways of living life and finding that comfort zone be it through friends or friends. Although truth be told, a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet.

I look at you, you bite your tongue
You don't know why or where I'm coming from
But in my head I'm close to you
We're in the rain still searching for the sun

You think that I want to run and hide
That I keep it all locked up inside but I just want you to find me

I'm not lost; not lost, just undiscovered
And when we're alone we are all the same as each other

You see the look that's on my face
You might think I'm out of place
I'm not lost, no, no, just undiscovered

Well the time it takes to know someone
It all can change before you know it's gone
So close your eyes feel the way I'm with you now
Believe there's nothing wrong

You think that I wanna run and hide
I'll keep it all locked up inside
But I just want you to find me
I'm not lost, I'm not lost, just undiscovered
And when we're alone we're all the same as each other
You see the look that's on my face
You might think I'm out of place
I'm not lost, no, no, just undiscovered

I'm not running
I'm not hiding
If you dig a little deeper you will find me

I'm not lost, not lost, just undiscovered
And when we're alone we're all the same as each other
You see the look that's on my face, you might think that I'm out of place
I'm not lost, no, no, just undiscovered

I'm not lost, not lost, just undiscovered
And when we're alone we're all the same as each other
You see the look that's on my face, you might think that I'm out of place
I'm not lost, no, no, just undiscovered