LMS for a TBH
At the height of Facebook’s popularity among students, users would often post the cryptic status “lms for a tbh.” That means “like my status” for a “to be honest,” which means that the poster would leave an honest post on the wall of everyone who liked their status. As Facebook became more commonly used beyond students and people’s timelines started to fill with questionable political posts from grandparents, the practice fell out of use. Nowadays, the practice sometimes re-emerges on different social media applications, regarded with a feeling of kitschy nostalgia.
This past week, I decided to do what I do best, participate in trends from long ago, by making a “like for a tbh” post of my own on Twitter. Twitter is a weird place since most interactions are one-sided — people shouting their thoughts out to their followers, rarely getting any responses beyond mostly meaningless “likes.” Through this post, I was able to create a rare moment of direct connection with my followers.
Many of my followers included old friends that I had drifted away from but stayed accessible to me through social media. Others included people that I had never met but had connected with through the platform. As I started to share my honest thoughts about people, I found myself transported to the past, thinking about my relationships with each of the people who liked my status. I remembered my times hanging out and sharing music with friends from high school, fleeting moments of friendships that my life revolved around for a while. I got to think about my internet friends as individuals, rather than just familiar profile pictures associated with certain tweets.
Some specific examples stood out, such as the way I reconnected with a friend that I hadn’t spoken to in a couple of years. One friend that I had met online responded with a moment of honesty of his own, sharing how much of an impact I had on his life. We had met through a forum online and had been exchanging emails and messages for years, but I had never realized how much of an impact my words had had to him. I had unknowingly connected him to an industry he was unfamiliar with and he brought enormous amounts of positivity into my life.
Less importantly, I felt good sharing these grateful, honest feelings. This week, I’ve felt much more positive and energized about nearly everything in my life. I’ve made it a rule in my life to share my appreciation with the people in my life as much as possible, but this experience forced me to think about the people I didn’t see all the time. Plus, chunking all of this gratitude and goodwill together was much more powerful than I could’ve expected.
I love the fact that my decision to make a tweet as a form of procrastination ended up being so gratifying. The world seems so much brighter when you get to trace the amazing moments throughout your life tied together by a variety of amazing people.
Drops of the Week
where I *drop* recommendations of cool things this week
Article
“The Little-Known Reason Pencils Are Yellow” by Gabrielle Hick - short read this week, but it focuses on an appropriately niche topic for me to be excited about it.
Book
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah - one of the most moving books I’ve ever read. It breaks down the horrific nature of apartheid from a personal place and really conveys Noah’s feelings fantastically well. One of the few times I've started sobbing from reading a book.
Playlist
desh - I started compiling some of my favorite Indian songs in honor of Diwali. This is a work in progress for sure though! The word "desh" means homeland or country.
Thanks so much for reading! If you have any comments/concerns or fan/hate mail for me, you know how to reach me (links below).
Love,
Nikhil