Identity and absences

It is interesting that at times we assert our presence by exhibiting narcissistic tendencies of creative expression…be it by way of writing a poem, dancing, singing, posting a picture on social networking site, or maybe writing a blog. Interestingly, ones presence can also be felt in absences.

You experience the absence of friends’ comments about a movie, life in general or you. This experience probably holds more weight than the actual content of the comments shared. You call it nostalgia.

You experience the absence of a continuum of your life, should some circumstances so arise, that a discontinuity abrupt what was at the same time both memorable and mundane. You call it change, sometimes welcomed, sometime detested.

You experience the absence of the voice, of the touch of a familiar someone, who may have made you familiar with yourself, a family member like mother, father, sister, brother, nephew or a lover perhaps. Accordingly, you call it homesickness or lovesickness respectively.

Some absences can have a haunting effect…when no one at the end of a telephone call speaks, but instead indulges in listening to the not so hollow ‘hellos’...or when there is a knock at the door, but no one at the door. You call it creepy.

In each of these cases, at times the negation of the existent is a conscious choice and at times it is so unconsciously done, that it hardly seems to be a choice. However, there is always a choice, or so one would like to believe. And the choice really is the manner in which one wishes to exert oneself, by positively exhibiting oneself in a way for others to witness or negatively by escaping cognition. Both, presence and absences are ways to assert one’s identity. This amounts to say, you always assert yourself. At times, when this is done negatively, there seems to be a power play, to hide oneself from being witnessed, you negate others from seeing who you are, propelling them to engage in a search instead.

Changing a profile picture...it sends a lot of messages

It sends a lot of messages. Most minimally, it tells some that you do own a camera. It reminds others that you have free time enough to upload a snap. It tells a few sensitive others that you would rather do social networking than spend time with them. It tells you that you think you look better than other versions of yourself to share with others. It sends a message of a deep seated narcissism. It reminds many ‘friends’ on your page about you, when they are not even thinking of you! It becomes a topic of conversation for some outside of facebook too. For a stalker few, who have somehow managed to access your page, decoding and hacking all necessary privacy settings, unknowingly, it adds an unsavory item to their obsession. It tells your lover who took the previous facebook snap or gifted you some accessory which added a zing to your profile picture…that you have moved on. (Unless of course your changed picture also is a reminder of that lover.) Either way, it informs that you are happy and possibly confident. It tells people that you think that the new picture is a better representative of yourself than your last picture. It tells you that you are photogenic. It may tell some that you think you are photogenic. It tells you that someone photographed you. It signifies that you believe in change and that you are not technologically challenged. To a few deep thinkers, it reminds you of a moment in time which you would like to live for a longer few moments. A longer, but still few moments, because we all know that you are going to change it again sometime in the future....unless you do not have a list of changed profile pictures. It might be a reminder that while traveling or attending some event or get together, there is this one good solo snap of yours which made the entire event or travel bit memorable or even more memorable but most definitely worth capturing. A changed facebook profile picture, it sends a lot of messages. It might inform some cousins or friends or some new people you are chatting up these days that you listen to them when they tell you that you must change your profile picture. It tells some long distance friends, or friends you have maintained distance for a long time that you have changed, if there is a drastic change in your pictures. If the change is too apparent, it allows some friends, the curious ones and the close ones, to review your album or albums. It might just remind someone of you. It might leave an impression. It may leave no impression whatsoever. Some of these messages might hold familiar interpretations for those who have not changed their profile pictures. As some changes are not exclusive to whether you have changed the picture or not. Having said that, it may still be maintained that a changed facebook profile picture may send a lot of messages.