I Want an Easy and Much Safer Life

I know, the statement may caught you off-guard but before you call me a hypocrite because at some point in our lives, we all want to get a little taste of fame, let me start with saying, I’d rather have an easy and simple life in contrast to the lavish and highly publicized and often dangerous lives that most famous people have.

Well yes in the past I must admit that the very reason why I tried my luck on blogging about celebrities on Everything Famous is because at some point in my life, I wanna be like Perez Hilton. But then reality hit me, I realized that I couldn’t do right things with the wrong motivations. Besides, the purpose of life is a life of purpose. That’s when I established my happiness blog wherein I chronicle the things that truly interest me and share to the world a piece of me that are usually a little personal. The blog then as evolved into an online resource for exposing au pair scams, savingand investing guide for teenagers.

Fame and Success are Two Different Things – Completely

There’s a thin line between fame and success since fame could be an after-effect of success but not all successful people are always famous and not all famous people are truly a success, if you know what I mean.

Feross Aboukhadijeh, he’s the guy behind YouTubeInstant, who later became an instant web celebrity not only because of his brilliant creation but also because of the highly publicized job offer from YouTube CEO, Chad Hurley, through Twitter. A great leap and inspiration for anyone who wants to create something great and be noticed, massively. However, it’s interesting to note that before YouTubeInstant, this man really has got some pure concentrated awesomeness in him by creating this fun and interesting site called, You Just Failed. It shows random funny photos of common failures and allows you to customize the experience by putting your name in replacement of ‘you’ in the you.justfailed.com URL.

It’s just timely when I went to his profile because I have been wondering how he’s keeping with all the attention and still maintain his privacy and learned of his plan to un-friend around 2,000 people who added him during the YouTubeInstant hype.

People whom he doesn’t really know but want to know more about him.

People like me who wanted to get a glimpse of the life of a man who once wanted to create something and eventually reap the rewards of his smart work. But the thing is, even if you’re as famous as Feross, you’re still human and still need privacy which often, and unfortunately, becomes a luxury that perhaps the only thing famous people could NOT afford.

Ken Yeung, in his post entitled, I Can’t Be Your Facebook Friend. It’s Not You OR Me, But My Privacy, highlights the reason why he wouldn’t accept friend requests from people he doesn’t personally know or have met and was prompted to create a fan page himself for for a non-narcissistic reason because after all, he’s still a simple person who wants to share things online but there are just some things that you’d like to share with closest friends and it’s just ridiculous getting random messages from anyone who haven’t met and really, it’s just creepy!

A friend, who is a local DJ has to deal with the same problem when she accepted friend requests from everyone and when me and my friend would post on her Wall, her “fans” or would it be more polite if I call them, “supporters” would butt in our conversation and start commenting silly and out of the topic responses like, “Hi….”, “Could you please greet my relatives in” and thousands other requests that though she may be paid to do them, she isn’t exactly paid to do that during that time, and not on her Facebook! Besides, me and my other friends are getting notifications that are totally irrelevant to our interests just because we were tagged on my “celebrity” friend’s status or photo and her oh-so-responsive fans would start crowding her online space. What’s worse when I started getting friend requests from random people and the only common friend we have is her! So yeah, it’s not really you or me, but my privacy.

Privacy is the Price You Pay for Being Famous

Or as Penelope Trunk puts it, Privacy is the New Celebrity. When you’re someone really good, no, when you’re someone really great, everybody wants to have some piece of you or maybe associated with you. I guess it’s healthy to be noticed and appreciated for what you do but the moment people start crossing the thin line between your professional life and personal life, that’s when the problem comes.

If I would have to live my life each day fearing that some unknown stalker maybe be checking on my every move, let’s forget about fame! I’d rather live a simple yet still meaningful life than trying to buy privacy. You see, in every opportunity lies the responsibility. Though the idea of having a global reach and fame may be tempting and well, amazing, I don’t think it’s worth it.

The Solution? Fanpages! Followers! Groups! Blogs!

Just like Ken said, it’s not really for some narcissistic reason. It’s just that we need to separate the line between work/celebrity status with our personal lives. Though it may indeed be flattering to know that some people value what you’ve got to say and share, it’s just creepy when you start getting notifications, messages and have some random people trying to chat with you all at the same time when you start opening your Facebook Chat box.
If people really wanna listen to you, there’s your blog that’s open for the world to follow or maybe just follow you on Twitter or like your Fanpage on Facebook. There’s just so much other open ways that readers and supporters could show their enthusiasm without trying to invade the other person’s privacy. Blogs are not private. Twitter is open for public (unless set to private) and groups, you see there’s just so much other ways without trying to be over intrusive.

A Simple Life is a Happy Life

My recently discovered blogger, Asmodeus (which obviously is his pseudonym and I guess it’s safe to assume that it was purposely done for privacy purposes), he inspired me and opened my eyes to what I truly want to accomplish in my life. I don’t need an army of followers and supporters like Feross have that hold on to every word I say or links I share and consider it some kind of a diamond. I only need a few set of friends and perhaps some avid readers that believe in me, trusts me and inspired by me.

After all, life is not about who you knew but whom you actually knew and truly helped!

Again, you don’t really have to be famous just to touch lives. And yes, I just can’t afford to be famous and run the risk of fearing for my life. Though that may be a little exaggerated.

P.S.

Though I know Feross may be able to code a program that will allow him to un-friend 2,000 people so easily, I’d make it easier for him by un-friending him instead because after all, I could still read his blog, follow him on Twitter or like his Facebook page without causing him unnecessary worries and any trouble.

I guess we can all become supportive without necessarily being intrusive.