Sometimes when I am sending an image on WhatsApp, I accidently swipe up to find a range of filters to select from but don’t feel the need to select any. The Image filter is probably the most unused and unrecognized features of WhatsApp which tells a lot about human psyche.
We don’t hold back when sharing pictures on WhatsApp. We just Select All and send it because for all of us, WhatsApp is too personal and we only use it to exchange pictures between close friends and family – people who already know us inside out and are privy to our whole lives. We are not seeking any validation from these people because they have already let us in. They know us as a whole and we know that they will not judge us if we send them a ‘bad’ (true) picture.
But sharing anything beyond the close circle requires some artistry. This is where we have to hide a few things. We dump all our raw material on WhatsApp and then sort through the junk to manufacture a polished picture by adding filters, cropping out the mediocre portions and getting a perfect balance of Brightness and Contrast before posting it on the social jungle woven by the world wide web.
In the pursuit of acknowledgment from strangers and distant friends who all have judgmental eyes and short attention spans, We, the Artists of Social Media, hustle to paint our empty feeds with perfect, filtered images and interesting, relevant stories and achievements – all in the hope that people will view us, like us, comment on us and share our edited, unauthentic yet happy lives with others.
