Edited by: Kesini Ramkumar
When was the last time you allowed yourself to have fun without considering your audience?
It feels very vulnerable to be silly in public. What if someone sees? What if someone records me? In a world of meta glasses and faked authenticity, when can you have fun without being caught? But that’s the thing, having fun makes you guilty of nothing.
Most of the media we consume is heavily curated, whether that be by people in your inner circle, an influencer, or a stranger whose TikTok just randomly appeared on your phone. People have a lot of choice in what they put out into the world as well as what they hide. In this setting we are given a lot of control in how we’re perceived.
As a result, it becomes scary and unnatural to be human — to be a fool at times, despite it being more natural than the polished images and curated world we’re exposed to.
Alongside this carefully handpicked media, there is another common genre that we see a lot that almost reads like gotcha journalism. Millions of people recounting odd conversations they had overheard or sharing what they saw when they were out only moments prior. We also see videos of people being asked questions to catch them off guard or get them worked up all while being filmed secretly.
What if you could unknowingly be the topic of a video that your friends see?! Watching video after video of “story times” and sidewalk interviews contribute to our fear of becoming the next viral video, but how likely is that? Contrary to what Netflix original movies tell us, it’s hard to go viral.
In reality, people aren’t watching you as much as you think- they surely aren’t judging you as much as you think either.
When was the last time you saw someone having fun and felt the urge to point a phone in their face or tell them to stop? Those “gotcha” videos that we see are of people who are found at inopportune times that people exploit- what does that have to do with your fun? So what if your dancing is not perfect, or you’re singing a little too loud when a song you like comes on, or you spill something on yourself in an attempt to do some physical comedy? That only makes you more human.
It doesn’t matter if what you put out into the world is perfect, it just matters if it’s a reflection of who you are.
Recently, I was at the club with a friend and we felt like we were the only people dancing. To be fair, the music wasn’t great, but every song had a beat and rhythm to follow if you really wanted to, so we didn’t really care much if it was good. And it’s not like the people around us didn’t want to dance either; they just weren’t.
We noticed that once people got near us, they started dancing as if there was a force field surrounding us both and once people were within it, the rhythm finally came and got them. We would make eye contact with girls who were swaying with their friends and we would hype them up, and suddenly it’s as if they were finally able to let go. They would get excited, start to laugh and dance emphatically.
But before our eyes met, the energy wasn’t there.
Maybe it was because they were tired or didn’t like the music. All I know is that they lit up dancing around all silly with me and my friend. I understand that many factors go into wanting to dance or not, people can live their lives as they please, I just couldn’t help but notice that it brought people joy to see me and my friend have fun, which influenced them to join in.
Everyone was so welcoming to our dancing, we were only met with support from the other club goers; they just didn’t seem supportive of themselves doing the same on their own.
The real question is, what worries did my friend and I not have? The truth is there was no one there who we needed to impress or look good for. It’s not that the opinions of everyone there were invalid or unimportant, I just don’t think that any of their opinions of me would change my life or be a reflection of who I truly am.
It didn’t matter if we looked insane while dancing to Gangnum Style as if we were there when Psy wrote it, we love dancing to that song. I was laughing and having fun; if someone had ‘clipped’ me or spoke to me negatively because I was having a good time, that’s on them. The fear of someone watching you or catching you in the act of having fun isn’t threatening if you feel good about your actions.
Again, people aren’t going to record you anyways. It’s scary to be in a sea of people and do something noticeable but, I would rather be seen doing what I want as opposed to what I think I should be doing.
So, do what you want; skip around instead of walking, laugh loudly at movies, like what you like and don’t water down your interest, just be yourself. Maybe none of the things I’ve listed are things you want to do and maybe you’re in the same boat as the people at the club and bad music isn’t for you either, just don’t stop yourself from living because you’re worried about how you’ll be perceived. We admire people who are themselves.