What are you thinking?

        You are crossing a street and see, in front of you, this phrase written on a wall: ‘What are you thinking?”. Of course, this phrase is not original and always appears on Facebook, encouraging us to post something.
       Then I wondered what the person was thinking when they wrote that phrase on the wall. Were they a joker, or could this action be a new form of aesthetic – a connection between the virtual world and the physical one?
       By the way, can you guess what I’m thinking right now, or what I intend to write about my thoughts? You are wrong. I’m not thinking anything, in particular, because I cannot write everything that I’m thinking at the exact moment I read the phrase: ‘What are you thinking?
     If we expressed everything we think all the time, Facebook or someone who manipulates the system might gain access to our intimacy and secrets, including our private matters. So that question encourages people to search for their thoughts for personal information. For example, a “bad guy” might ask pedestrians: ‘What are you thinking?’ to steal their thoughts instead of their wallets. What’s more, someone may ask an attractive person, “What are you thinking?” to seduce them. In fact, we don’t need much effort to imagine this unusual world.
       If we had thought bubbles above our heads revealing our thoughts, I believe people would try to hide them as much as possible, because others would be eager to know their intentions.
       In the end, this question stimulates our creativity, because we are complex beings, and our joys and sorrows depend on our thoughts: What are we thinking to solve our problems?.
      The virtual world is appealing because we are not there, physically, and we can remove boring people and share our lives only with those we get along with. The universe might function better around people we trust. They know us, and we know them.
      Some people often reveal what they think, their preferences, and even what they eat on social media, and, apparently, they don’t mind avoiding self-censorship. Their behaviour doesn’t always inspire confidence, because we cannot be sure whether they are sincere. In a way, when sincerity is excessive, it can turn into bad manners.
       So I wonder, reader, what are you thinking about what I have just written?

Photo from: Foto de Juan Rumimpunu na Unsplash

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#DigitalPrivacy#SocialMediaReflection#VirtualVsPhysical#SelfCensorship#HumanComplexity#DigitalEthics

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