PAINT THE TOWN
CULTURE
Do
we overindulge telling? overshare information? What should be shared, how much,
and why.
We
live in a time where access to information has become one screen tap away. One
can hardly overstate the effects of the democratization of information. Anyone
can tell stories (ask Instagram), anyone can report affairs. If you must,
‘information is everywhere.”
I wish I were out to talk about the pros
and cons of the generalized conduct of information, but I am however precisely
on the case of personalized information. Popular culture has made it quite
commonplace to have people divulge intimate details of their lives online. Be it
in a bid to let people know in Nigerian speak that ‘they have arrived.’ Or to maintain
a social media following, one that feeds on glamour and the prettier parts of
our lives.
In which case I feel like our entire being
is being stretched out into a never-ending façade of finesse, where we continually
try to tuck in the fraying ends from prying eyes, but hey this is no new story.
I am a small-town girl. I’ve basically
lived my life knowing all the Mama Ejembis and Papa Akins in my neighbourhood. Sucked
in all the whispers and wandering talks typical of places where everyone knows everyone
(but not really). I’ve lived my life knitted into community and so I hardly
ever understood the concept of withholding information about the everyday on
goings of one’s life as somehow, someway, people always seemed to make a story
out of it in silent corners and underneath whistling trees.
Proverbially, the walls have ears.
Hence here is me coming to the conclusion
that the problem really isn’t with oversharing, the problem is with whom we
overshare.
We share with caution even when we are not
withholding, caution of understanding who is receiving this information and for
what purpose.
By all means personal information that are truly
confidences should be nobody’s business but ours. Information should have a
particular platform on which we know what kind to share. You can’t share photos
of your crazy night out with the squad on a business page, you’re not
pretending or hiding who you are, you’re simply being professional.
You can choose to or not to post life
activities such as culinary choices, travels, daily routine, etcetera on your
work page keeping in mind that the process is clean cut and straight to the
point. Your personal pages might perhaps divulge more details as they tend to
be a platform where you tell your particular stories that may or may not make
sense to anyone but you.
But before you point fingers, I’ve been occasionally
guilty of this too just like many of us are, and I am making deliberate steps
in understanding where to draw the line.
However, I know you’re probably wondering about
the graffiti background, and let me tell you, I shall fall in love with a
street artist who vandalizes walls for art, and we shall paint the town!
(raises fist in the air like a certified nut.)
BTW, if you
follow me on Instagram, you must already know of my culinary overshare and in
which case I am out to continually overshare! I’m a food maniac people (sorry
not sorry, lol)
Hello, hope you
have been good?
A hi nya, with
love, x E
Photography
& Editing // Ene Ijato and assisted by Onyebuchi Ugwu
Styling
& creative Directing // Ene Ijato
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