Survival strategies
1. Assemble yourself into a figure that can travel this world.
2. Do not eat their food.
3. Do not forget your mask.
4. They will all lie to you.
5. They will give you what you think you want, you don’t want it.
6. Always remember to return.
7. Remember who you are.
These are shamanistic survival strategies for navigating the fae/spirit/supernatural realm.
You likely see it as pure fantasy, and maybe it is, or maybe it has some practical value in our lives.
Don’t believe me? That’s fine, I’m not sure I do either.
However, let’s just consider these rules in reference to the digital world.
1. Assemble yourself into a figure that can travel this world.
When you’re on the internet, if you're not immersed in the culture of the internet, you’re pretty likely
to have a difficult time and stand out. There’s certain rules and lessons that we tend to pick up during
our time on the internet. You have to learn what sites to go to and when, the rules of the sites, and how
not to stand out. If you want to be successful on social media you learn how to act on that social media,
there’s certain personalities that thrive a lot better on facebook vs instagram vs twitter. There’s ways of
speech and courtesies to know. If you don’t know the slang you won’t know what is being said. If you don’t
remember to like a certain post, or like the wrong one, you may offend someone.
2. Do not eat their food.
In case you didn’t know, it's not a good thing to always accept every websites’ cookies.
3. Do not forget your mask.
Honestly, being totally genuine isn’t always a good thing, because you’re not likely to stay that way.
The internet has a way of shaping us, especially if you start letting it in. There’s plenty of stories
of people who become influencers showing off their lives becoming absolutely insufferable.
Although some might find this embarrassing to share, I was on deviant art when I was younger.
(Yes I know the reputation of the site, believe it or not I did not interact with that side of it and
there was plenty more to the place.) I share this because in the communities I interacted with it was very
common for artists to have personas that artists drew to represent themselves. Some drew more realistic
representations of themselves while others drew obviously fantastical characters of themselves. (Generally),
no one believed they actually were these things, but it was fun to draw yourself as some mystical creature or
the like, or just to have a page mascot. While it was fun, I think it had some very practical benefits. First
of all, it was a lot safer than sharing your image online. But, in a way it was much more genuine than a photo.
You didn’t have to dress up and maintain some image for the world to see. You could be as you would in the
privacy of your own home and be represented by something that everyone saw as you, but knew wasn’t the real you.
There wasn’t the expectation of an image you have to maintain at all times or to be the person the world saw.
When you show the “real” you online, there’s a much higher pedestal you have to chase and maintain. People
start expecting what they see to be the real you when there isn’t the dissonance of an obvious mask.
A mask is safer, it helps lessen the effects on the real you.
4. They will all lie to you.
The saying that “you can’t trust everything you see on the internet” is a pretty common phrase I
encounter in my own life. If you think the internet is trustworthy, I admire the optimism, but the
internet is filled with people, and people often lie.
5. They will give you what you think you want, you don’t want it.
False promises are aplenty on the internet. Dating apps that promise you’ll find true love, just to
do everything to convince you it can while never truly helping. Scam texts, calls, emails, all filled
with promises of wealth or aid that will never come. The never ending saga of online shopping fails.
Or promises of plentiful companionship and friendship online that will likely leave you feeling
lonelier than ever.
6. Always remember to return.
If you live your life solely online, you’re sure to find yourself more and more miserable and
unhealthy. Just think of the image of the typical “basement dweller” who needs to “go touch grass.”
(If you have no idea what I just said, you’re probably doing pretty well in this regard.)
7. Remember who you are.
Don’t let the digital world change you into someone you don’t want to be. Don’t let its allure draw you
in too deep. Otherwise you’re likely to lose real valuable connections. The internet is full of escapism,
don’t let the electorate world fool you into thinking the real you is nowhere near as good as the you on
social media or the you in video games. You’re a valuable human being with purpose beyond it.
Our sense of self can become warped on the internet in ways I can’t even begin to cover.
The digital world isn’t pure fantasy,
but having some boundaries and rules with your interactions with it can still be invaluable.
Maybe you don’t follow the shamanistic rules,
but have some boundaries with it.
You’re a human being, not just another name on a screen.
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