FANTASY VERSUS REALITY: SOME MISCONCEPTIONS IN SOCIAL MEDIA
Fantasies are thoughts that spawn from one’s imagination that is they are not real, material or concrete. Reality forms the existential events and surroundings around us; this simply puts means that reality deals with what we feel, embrace and what we can get. Fantasy dwells on living in one’s head or thought. Fantasy relies on fictitious events that one may want to happen but is not taking place. It is a shift from reality and as such tends to dull the senses of a person due to its intriguing aspect. It can be suggested that fantasy is the same thing like drugs; this is due to the fact like drugs releases dopamine (the pleasure hormone to the brain). Reality which dwells on actual events tends to pass information of what is really happening.
Let us begin with a story in Chuang Tzu’s For the All Things. “Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzu, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Tzu. Soon I awakened, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a distinction. The transition is called the transformation of material things.” Let us focus on this story to draw a distinction between fantasy and reality.
Firstly, the character, Chuang Tzu stated that he dreamt. This process of thought really dwells on the fact that the latter persona is living in the word of fantasy. The persona is given another personality from being Chuang Tzu but a butterfly. This identity being given on Chuang Tzu has given him a wrong misconception of who he really is. This is deduced from the statement “Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man”. Thus, one has two identity whereby one is false (fantasy) and the other is real (reality). Now the process known as the “transformation of material things”, that is, the persona has to take upon himself to choose any identity he wants. This act is possible because the act of understanding what is real is based on one’s discretion and very subjective. Nevertheless, the subjective nature of reality cannot be said to be true because in reality or when examined what one thought to be real may be false.
Furthermore, if one narrows it to how reality and fantasy create misconceptions in social media, one will find out that it is based on what people actually oriented one another. On social media platforms, one will find out that there are people who are regarded as social media influencers. These influencers help to dictate and make what social media users call reality. This propaganda helps to influence people on what they feel is true to them, others and so on. Most of these social media influencers are usually popular people like singers, business men and politicians and so on. It is important to note that some individuals sieve the kind of information they receive or they are not recipients of it never necessarily mean they themselves do not influence others. Importantly, though these individuals are passive in that they are recipients of social media content produced by others, they still actively participate in social media by constituting an audience and community for others to orient to (Litt 2012).
Furthermore, it is very necessary to describe how users of social media gather and procure information on social media. The process of getting information dwells on the fact that, the majority of social media activity consists of what is often derisively called “lurking” (Nonnecke and Preece 2000). Lurking here symbolizes activities of people following up other peoples’ achievements on social media. Not only do they do this for monitoring people’s achievements but also to follow up the latest trends of people being ‘lurked’. Nonetheless, this process is an act of communication because there is a flow of information from one person to another. Also, their activity could be appropriately characterized as listening in that they are directing attention to forms of communication (Crawford 2009). This is because people are given information on social media based on the kind of areas they interact with. Suggestions are made to people on social media based on topics, people, and events one previously intercourse with. This act definitely helps to broaden a person’s perception on what actually is or not. One should not forget that this information rubs on the user and therefore increases one perception and height of reason.
Therefore, one will have to list and explain different misconception about social media. The misconceptions are:
Misconception of wealth
This misconception dwells on the fact that the perception of what is wealth and affluence is different from reality. Firstly, social media users take fancy or flashy things as a picture off wealth symbolizes. In contrast, some of these things do not necessarily mean a person dressed in flashy cloth and so on is wealthy. Secondly, some social media users make use of flashy things trying to create an image of wealth based on the facts that they want people to have that perception about them. In reality, this people do not have what they flaunt on social media. This misconceptions leads to people having a two contrasting figures of what is real since they are made to believe the fantasy of some individuals.
Misconception of personality
In social media, people pick up different identity and personality to actually give them some fame and earn large amount of followers. For instance, we have people that engage in comedy skits, relationship advisers and some other characters like the possible villains that pick on others just to get people's attention and make news. Also, most people for these perceptions believing that what this people portray is the same thing in reality. Thus, they have been given a stream of thought to engage with which in reality does not mean it is true.
Misconception of political related matters
The social media today has been known to be an instrument of propaganda. Firstly, politicians and politicized social media users have used social media platforms to propagate their political beliefs and ideologies. Election matters, a person political profile and government policies are examined discussed in such a way to bring people to base of compromise. A person’s political profile can be tarnished and also a government policy may be ridiculed by a social media influencers and these latter will form the basis of some social media users’ perception of what politics is. This does not mean the latter beliefs are right but based on the personality of the person who constructed the message on social media, he is able to achieve his aim.
Misconception of culture and race
In previous centuries ago there has been a wild and wrong perception of some race in the world. The social media is also used in such a way that it also helps to propagate some of these wrong notions. The Black continent for instance has been misconceived to be a continent of wild lands with undeveloped areas. It is also believed that, almost, the majority of people in Africa are not cultured, barbaric and so on. These notions are corrected through the social media based on the kind of posts put up on them. These posts actually form the ideology held by some part of the races of the world. Also, Black Africans believe in the looseness of the Europeans which is based on the nude and sex pictures put up on social media. In reality, these posts do not suggest the wider white society at large.
Misconception of philosophy of work
In recent times, there has been a wider perception that hard work is very key in making it. Now, the social media has been able to change these notions based on criminals using this media to flaunt their wealth. In flaunting this wealth, people are misled to point that they believe that there is no better way to survive on descent job but to engage in criminal activities. There has been a rise in Nigeria in the area of internet scamming known as “Yahoo Yahoo”. This activity has brought forth the notion that making money does not require work and one cannot make something good from leading a normal life with a descent job.
However, there is a critical distinction between recognizing social media as a space where public opinion is shaped, developed, and debated, and mistakenly concluding that social media content is a valid reflection of where public opinion stands. Because a disproportionate amount of content comes from a small number of users, sentiments on social media do not necessarily reflect the majority’s perceptions and may lack cross-cultural awareness (Hecht and Gergle 2010
What this misconceptions causes:
New stream of thought or ideoogy
New ideas
Culture
Desires
Misinformation
Historical misconception
A genre is a “distinctive type of communicative action, characterized by a socially recognized communicative purpose” (Orlikowski and Yates 1994, 543
Fantasies are thoughts that spawn from one’s imagination that is they are not real, material or concrete. Reality forms the existential events and surroundings around us; this simply puts means that reality deals with what we feel, embrace and what we can get. Fantasy dwells on living in one’s head or thought. Fantasy relies on fictitious events that one may want to happen but is not taking place. It is a shift from reality and as such tends to dull the senses of a person due to its intriguing aspect. It can be suggested that fantasy is the same thing like drugs; this is due to the fact like drugs releases dopamine (the pleasure hormone to the brain). Reality which dwells on actual events tends to pass information of what is really happening.
Let us begin with a story in Chuang Tzu’s For the All Things. “Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzu, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Tzu. Soon I awakened, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a distinction. The transition is called the transformation of material things.” Let us focus on this story to draw a distinction between fantasy and reality.
Firstly, the character, Chuang Tzu stated that he dreamt. This process of thought really dwells on the fact that the latter persona is living in the word of fantasy. The persona is given another personality from being Chuang Tzu but a butterfly. This identity being given on Chuang Tzu has given him a wrong misconception of who he really is. This is deduced from the statement “Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man”. Thus, one has two identity whereby one is false (fantasy) and the other is real (reality). Now the process known as the “transformation of material things”, that is, the persona has to take upon himself to choose any identity he wants. This act is possible because the act of understanding what is real is based on one’s discretion and very subjective. Nevertheless, the subjective nature of reality cannot be said to be true because in reality or when examined what one thought to be real may be false.
Furthermore, if one narrows it to how reality and fantasy create misconceptions in social media, one will find out that it is based on what people actually oriented one another. On social media platforms, one will find out that there are people who are regarded as social media influencers. These influencers help to dictate and make what social media users call reality. This propaganda helps to influence people on what they feel is true to them, others and so on. Most of these social media influencers are usually popular people like singers, business men and politicians and so on. It is important to note that some individuals sieve the kind of information they receive or they are not recipients of it never necessarily mean they themselves do not influence others. Importantly, though these individuals are passive in that they are recipients of social media content produced by others, they still actively participate in social media by constituting an audience and community for others to orient to (Litt 2012).
Furthermore, it is very necessary to describe how users of social media gather and procure information on social media. The process of getting information dwells on the fact that, the majority of social media activity consists of what is often derisively called “lurking” (Nonnecke and Preece 2000). Lurking here symbolizes activities of people following up other peoples’ achievements on social media. Not only do they do this for monitoring people’s achievements but also to follow up the latest trends of people being ‘lurked’. Nonetheless, this process is an act of communication because there is a flow of information from one person to another. Also, their activity could be appropriately characterized as listening in that they are directing attention to forms of communication (Crawford 2009). This is because people are given information on social media based on the kind of areas they interact with. Suggestions are made to people on social media based on topics, people, and events one previously intercourse with. This act definitely helps to broaden a person’s perception on what actually is or not. One should not forget that this information rubs on the user and therefore increases one perception and height of reason.
Therefore, one will have to list and explain different misconception about social media. The misconceptions are:
Misconception of wealth
This misconception dwells on the fact that the perception of what is wealth and affluence is different from reality. Firstly, social media users take fancy or flashy things as a picture off wealth symbolizes. In contrast, some of these things do not necessarily mean a person dressed in flashy cloth and so on is wealthy. Secondly, some social media users make use of flashy things trying to create an image of wealth based on the facts that they want people to have that perception about them. In reality, this people do not have what they flaunt on social media. This misconceptions leads to people having a two contrasting figures of what is real since they are made to believe the fantasy of some individuals.
Misconception of personality
In social media, people pick up different identity and personality to actually give them some fame and earn large amount of followers. For instance, we have people that engage in comedy skits, relationship advisers and some other characters like the possible villains that pick on others just to get people's attention and make news. Also, most people for these perceptions believing that what this people portray is the same thing in reality. Thus, they have been given a stream of thought to engage with which in reality does not mean it is true.
Misconception of political related matters
The social media today has been known to be an instrument of propaganda. Firstly, politicians and politicized social media users have used social media platforms to propagate their political beliefs and ideologies. Election matters, a person political profile and government policies are examined discussed in such a way to bring people to base of compromise. A person’s political profile can be tarnished and also a government policy may be ridiculed by a social media influencers and these latter will form the basis of some social media users’ perception of what politics is. This does not mean the latter beliefs are right but based on the personality of the person who constructed the message on social media, he is able to achieve his aim.
Misconception of culture and race
In previous centuries ago there has been a wild and wrong perception of some race in the world. The social media is also used in such a way that it also helps to propagate some of these wrong notions. The Black continent for instance has been misconceived to be a continent of wild lands with undeveloped areas. It is also believed that, almost, the majority of people in Africa are not cultured, barbaric and so on. These notions are corrected through the social media based on the kind of posts put up on them. These posts actually form the ideology held by some part of the races of the world. Also, Black Africans believe in the looseness of the Europeans which is based on the nude and sex pictures put up on social media. In reality, these posts do not suggest the wider white society at large.
Misconception of philosophy of work
In recent times, there has been a wider perception that hard work is very key in making it. Now, the social media has been able to change these notions based on criminals using this media to flaunt their wealth. In flaunting this wealth, people are misled to point that they believe that there is no better way to survive on descent job but to engage in criminal activities. There has been a rise in Nigeria in the area of internet scamming known as “Yahoo Yahoo”. This activity has brought forth the notion that making money does not require work and one cannot make something good from leading a normal life with a descent job.
However, there is a critical distinction between recognizing social media as a space where public opinion is shaped, developed, and debated, and mistakenly concluding that social media content is a valid reflection of where public opinion stands. Because a disproportionate amount of content comes from a small number of users, sentiments on social media do not necessarily reflect the majority’s perceptions and may lack cross-cultural awareness (Hecht and Gergle 2010
What this misconceptions causes:
New stream of thought or ideoogy
New ideas
Culture
Desires
Misinformation
Historical misconception
A genre is a “distinctive type of communicative action, characterized by a socially recognized communicative purpose” (Orlikowski and Yates 1994, 543
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