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PART X

“MAIN CHARACTER ENERGY”

SHOW TIME!

THIRTY-NINE

SHOW TIME!

Is it all just one big show? 

Surely you have heard the new vocabulary floating around on Instagram: “main character” energy. I love this term because you should be the main character of your life AND there is a lot more truth in this term than simply just another Instagram word that began to trend.

One might wonder if we're all unwitting stars of our own version of The Truman Show, where the lines between authenticity and exhibitionism are increasingly blurred. The premise of the iconic film – where the protagonist lives his life in an artificial bubble watched by an invisible audience – resonates deeply with the dynamics of modern Social Media usage.

The parallels between The Truman Show and our current societal dynamics with Social Media are strikingly relevant. In the film, Truman's life, unbeknownst to him, is a fabricated reality, constantly monitored and manipulated for entertainment. This mirrors how Social Media often leads us to curate and perform aspects of our lives for an online audience, blurring the lines between reality and fiction.

Stage-Managed Lives: Like Truman, many of us unknowingly cultivate a stage-managed version of our lives on Social Media, selectively sharing moments to craft a particular narrative or image. Much like Truman’s seemingly idyllic but entirely scripted existence, our online profiles can become stage-managed exhibits. We prune and groom our digital presences, often subconsciously, to fit into a storyline that will appeal to our followers, or what we imagine they expect of us.

The Audience Effect: Just as Truman's actions are influenced by his unseen audience, Social Media users often modify their behavior based on perceived audience expectations, leading to a performative aspect in everyday life. Every post, like, and share is a line in the script of our Social Media personas aka our Digital Souls, tailored for an audience whose gaze we can feel, if not see. It is an audience that shapes our actions, just as the off-screen viewers influenced Truman’s world. As we cater to this audience, our real lives and digital performances intertwine until the distinction becomes as hazy as a carefully filtered photo.

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