OUR DIGITAL LIVES AND A CELEBRATION OF THE CURVY WOMAN
Since
some of us got baptized into the social media frenzy, one thing that has been
an undeniable feature of the various platforms we get glued to is the status update and photos. Social media is a place where most people hide themselves
from the realities of life; we post funny, serious, awkward, silly, insightful
messages and also show our smiles mostly to the world but what will happen to
all the post and photos when we eventually die?
Some
few years back I became an acquaintance to a lovely woman on Facebook, the
friendship grew organically and we even planned on meeting each other at point.
She told me about her health condition and that she was going to seek
medication in the U.S but it saddened me that I never heard from her until I saw
her birthday notification on my phone so as usual I sent her a birthday wish
only for me to be informed that my friend is dead the next day and that she had
actually been dead three months ago.
I
believe I am not the only one faced with this shock of a news but that really
got me thinking about my digital life. We all now have two major lives; the physically
realistic one’ in which we try to find purpose for life and the other one (the
digital life) where we choose to blow our horns, network and sometimes show off.
Can you imagine the thousands of photos and posts by the dead lurking on
social media and oh... the shocks some family and friends will face when they
inherit our digital life?
Thinking out loud, relatives would no longer only
consider what to do with our books, shirts, vases and jewelries, but they would
have to think about our online social remnants such as digital photos, videos,
status updates and emails.
They will also have to think about how they will
mourn us on social media too. Ghost reminders online are enabling new types of
mourning practices too; they are consequently presenting a number of challenges
to the traditional role of custodianship as these remnants of digital life
cannot be placed within rooms or on shelves in quite the same way as a piece of
jewelry.
Today’s Facebook age, a new form of mourning has
emerged in which people are turning to the web to post their sympathy messages,
store their memories or express grief, the line between life and death has
become a much more public event, with the last status updates and final tweets
of victims showcased by friends and family.
The changing responses to death and the digital
legacy we leave behind will pose all sorts of new questions and challenges. So
what social life legacy are you leaving behind and have you thought about who
will inherit them when death comes knocking?
Today
happens to be international women’s day and usually we spate against the beastly oppression like violence against women, poverty, racism, inequality in the
workplace but there is usually a little shine on the oppression women with curvy
body size face all over the world. Comedians mock them, jokes are cracked at their
expense and the pressure on the curvy woman to somehow change is incredible
compared to their skinny counterparts. The telemundos , the music videos and
all the Tyra Banks of this world flood our Ghanaian screens which somehow cause
the curvy woman to be timid.
The
reality is that there is no ideal body type universally accepted as beauty. For
example in China, small feet are considered beautiful, so legend has it that women
would bandage their feet while growing up to make sure they
remained small cause some to disfigure their feet. It must be clearly stated
that, what is considered attractive in one culture may not be considered so in another. Simply put;"One man's meat is another man poison!"
I like curvy women, there is something about
them that make a man’s blood boil, their shape is beautiful and when they dress
things really do stand up. There is nothing more beautiful than a confident
beautiful curvy woman.
Just as slim does not necessarily mean sick so
does being curvy also does not necessarily mean a health problem awaiting. It’s
all about a lifestyle choice that will make you look good as well as feel good.
I am in no way propagating obesity or an unfit body. What am
saying is our curvy women need not worry too much, know yourself and a
lifestyle that suit your God given size and manage it well.
On this note I celebrate all the curvy women in
my life and thanks for all the support you have given me. Happy women’s day.
Thanks for this great piece
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