Facebook

I have been on Facebook since 2008, so that’s 18 years for me. Social networks had been popping up like daisies during those years, and Facebook managed to hit just the right style, communities, and technology capability so as to viralize and grow into the enormous worldwide phenomenon and platform it is today. It is no exaggeration to say that it was THE catalyst that propelled the whole internet from a mainstream attitude of “oh that’s cool, I guess I could get into this whole internet thing” unto a de-facto utility service. Fewer things motivate human beings more than the upkeep of our social relationships, and a social network was the perfect method to make all humans agree upon a standard platform for communication and expression. Not that it was the first, nor has it remained as the most popular, nor that everyone has joined it, but I see it was the first sweeping worldwide brushfire that prepared the ground (the social receptivity) for the barrage of social media platforms that emerged in its trail, all of them geared towards connection and personal expression.

The spirit of “Here I am” and “Look at me” found expression through Facebook. “Look at me, I exist, pay attention to me. Do you see me? Do you see what I am, do you see what I have to offer?” A world still hurt and resentful from decades and centuries of conflict, unfairness, blame, shame, and self-recrimination found only scant clean emotional connection and intimacy within families and friends, most of whom still only knew to love conditionally. To relate with each other through roles of victim and savior. To hold back lest others see one’s vulnerable truth as an exploitable weakness. To attack those who showed themselves openly so as to survive, to feed on the scraps of emotional pleasure that comes from the illusion of superiority, and from the laughter of tribal mocking and a shared spirit, even if it were of exclusion. To hide one’s true joy and desire for connection, lest it be put down and rejected again. These were the lessons passed down across the generations that helped our ancestors survive, yet which held our true selves incapable of showing themselves, starved for the flow of pure love that was audited and curbed at every step.

Social media changed that. It provided us with an alternate channel to present ourselves to the world. A way to say “I am here”, “This is me”, not only to those present but to the whole world, to anyone who would listen. And a space much safer for those afraid to show who they were. With practically zero physical risk, only distant and choosable emotional risk, and with a potential impact and spread far faster and farther than anything we had before, Facebook gave the new generations a safe and instant channel to show the world who they were. A Book of Faces where every face was valid, where every face could be seen, and where no expression could be silenced (up to an eventual level of censorship that was still laxer than in many regions on Earth).

The emotional starvation that had permeated humanity first manifested itself as hungry expressions of “Look at ME”, “Connect with ME”, “Like ME”, and those greedy qualities are still visible across the network today. Fear-mongering, illusory glamour, financial lures, and sexual lures are still common, but a default universal exposure allows all of us to see everything there is, and thus have a wider freedom to choose what truly appeals to us, rather than from merely the best among a physically limited set of options (as was the case in the pre-internet era).

But as the years have released the surface-level pent-up stress of reactive unreleased expression, the masses have found the emptiness of being seen for what they are not. The older generation brought out their best masks, their flashiest costumes and products, and many found the praise, attention, relationships, and money they sought, and then realized they were still not fulfilled. What, then, could satisfy them? More likes? Better contacts? More engagement, even more business growth?

This is not to say that true connections and healthy growth did not occur. Much light was revealed and pierced out from beneath the grime, and countless new seeds of love have grown out through new projects, communities, and families who have dared embrace truer, more vulnerable ways of expressing and of relating, to themselves and to others. Those who have dared to step into their authentic self fully have found that was the key to fulfil what all their roles, masks, and conditions could not.

Indeed, the newer generations came into this connected world with fresh hearts and unjaded dreams, and could start life afresh with this new channel of expression, where everything was available. And as their true selves are showing up as they are, the whole of humanity is blooming with the truths to be revealed by their finer natures.

Social media content is still far from being all positive and glamourless, but the trend is clear. Humanity as a whole is sharing love and positivity much more often than it was twenty years ago, and these digital shifts have been bringing about visible physical results. Communities are arising, groups of dance, art, material sharing, the assertion of love and authenticity in relating, new systems to replace the older, healing, energy, extra-sensorial perception, channeling, esotericism etc, all of them exploding in size and diversity, eager to explore all the joyful possibilities that life as a human can contain.

As criticised and condemned as the platform and its parent company have been in recent years, their past and present impact upon the world are undeniable. Not the only one such catalyst, but a definite landmark in our history.

And yesterday I realized that a new social media platform is available, here, in The Circle. And something just opened up in me. I realized that, personally, I have been holding myself back from showing up on Facebook (or on any other social media platform) fully and authentically. Sure, my expressions there are the most authentic representations I have been able to muster, but I still feel they are all filtered and audited by my whispering fears of “What will they think?”, “Who will stop trusting me if I post this?”, and even “Won’t it be harder for others to find my oh-so-well-crafted texts from last week/month/year?”.

But when I considered posting on this new social media platform, I felt clearer. “Oh”, I realized. “I have no fear here. I can write exactly anything I want, and my scared inner child who still trembles at the prospect of losing its friends can rest easier. And the community here is much more receptive towards the topics I’m interested in than the Facebook community is in general. So I can use it as a safer stepping stone towards true expression. I guess I’ll do that”.

So that’s what I’m doing now. These are the thoughts I had about Facebook and its ongoing role in the world, about how opening up new channels of expression serves as a way to release pent up fears, and about the burgeoning psychological and spiritual transformation that humanity is rising through at this very moment. Here we go, all together.