Just Carl

Here’s the one thing I wish a lot of tumblr/fitblr/internetr users would try…

Get

Over

Yourselves.

Now, that may seem harsh, but let me explain.

Most of the people I now follow are on here for the right reasons; wanting to live longer, healthier lives and being able to enjoy nature, life, eating good healthy food, etc… and these can all exclude themselves from the following rant.

All too often, I come across fitblr blogs that start out great… “here’s what I’m eating… I’ve lost 5lb this week… I’ve completed my first 5k…” and so on. And that’s fantastic. These are great reads full of awesome examples of how to eat, exercise, and live. Then, they turn into these “look at how great I am” blogs, full of photos of themselves working out, flexing their muscles, and so on.

It’s one thing to have “before and after photos”, because they’re great for people to look at and see where you came from… and I get there may be times when they’re posted in jest, which is also not the issue here, but I’ve totally lost count of the blogs I’ve had to unfollow because they went from improvement blogs into show-off blogs.

Again, I’m cool with bloggers who show themselves working out in an attempt to educate and say “now this is how you do it”… but the blogs in question have no advice or input at all beyond “this is how I look” photos.

These people then post things like “Oh I lost 2 followers today”… which kinda proves my point. It’s “that” kind of person who keeps a close eye on how many people are giving them the attention they’re desperate for. And thankfully, I’m not alone in this and other unfollow too.

These situations combine to make what is almost the exact definition of shallow, yet, if one is to call these people shallow, or attention seekers, they’re the bad guy/gal for bringing it up.

Now don’t get me wrong… I know how easy it is to accidentally get sucked into this at first. When I first signed up here I uploaded some photos of myself, and then came the “oh nice photos” comments and messages… and then again when I posted a video the same comments came in about my irish accent… and I must admit they are nice to hear, but to push it and keep posting them just to get more compliments would totally go against what I feel is the purpose of “The Fitblr”.

You guys, if you were to look back, will see that I stopped uploading photos and videos of me for that very reason.

Now I admit the above is all very negative and destructive… so here’s the constructive bit;

It’s much, much healthier to just feel comfortable with what you’re doing without trying to be “flashy”. Don’t be that pompous person who needs to show off. Yes, talk us through your weight loss, and tell us about your lap times, and show us the great foods you’ve cooked…. show us your improvements and tell us how you achieved them… tell us of the trials and hardships you’ve faced to get to were you are… all of these things are about YOU and tell us how great YOU have been… but without the “show-off-i-ness” that makes you look like a poser. Of course I’m not complaining about people posting about themselves, but with blogging, there will always be that element of self-importance… but there is a line.

I hope it’s clear that I’m not saying photos and info about yourself is a bad thing… because it’s not. But we all know which photos are just there in the hope that people will praise you for them, and that’s just… shallow.

So when it comes to “Try This! Thursday”, the thing I want you to try is;

Try not to turn into one of these people.

This has been “Get Over Yourself”.

Bring on the criticism.

Disclaimer: I repeat… This is NOT in reference to anyone who posts educational stuff and just happens to have a great body that deserves to be shown off. If there is substance to the blog-post, then that is not in question here. This is only in reference to “empty” posts that are simply there in an attempt to receive praise. I believe I have covered my ass sufficiently.

Your favourite judgemental irishman,

Carl. x

… asking about their stance on “promoting bad health”. I’m done arguing with confused kids on the road to killing themselves, so this is my last action on the matter, hoping to see tumblr make some positive steps towards checking up on what they allow on their site.

Subject: “Dangerous Blogging; Promoting Bad Health”

Hi there,

I’ve just been looking through your content policy and ToS in hope of finding somewhere that states tumblr does not allow its site to be used to condone bad health, people hurting themselves, or potentially accidentally killing themselves.

I would like to think “libelous, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harassing, hateful, offensive or otherwise violates any law or right of any third party”, taken from your ToS would somewhat cover it, but not sure it does.

Let me get to my point…

If someone was to report a tumblr blog for posting things like “let’s all cut ourselves” and constantly encourages people to do so, I imagine that would fall in breech of your ToS somewhere, right? Promoting self-harm I’m sure is more than “frowned upon” by law so one would imagine this would not be tolerated.

Now… on this presumption, I would like to ask why 100’s (if not 1000’s) of your blogs are allowed to have underweight, malnourished, ill teenagers (and in some cases adults) promoting diets that would put someone in hospital after a couple of weeks. There are blogs on your site that have people who are already dangerously thin posting pictures of themselves and others with rake-thin bodies complaining about how they need to lose more weight, along with posting some SCARY vital statistics, followed by statements of how they have been starving themselves and ending up in hospital as a result… all while telling others “this is how to look good… this is what YOU need to do”.

To take us back to the “let’s all cut ourselves” analogy that I’m sure you would not like on your site; That’s not even as bad as half of these people mentally and physically hurting themselves through practical starvation. Flesh wounds might leave cuts and scars, but not eating can kill someone… especially those on your site who are young enough to get emerged in this on-going problem.

Now I fully understand that this is a problem for the internet as a whole, not just tumblr… but on YOUR site I would at least like some kind of acknowledgement that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated and those blogs that are blatantly harmful to many many people will be at least examined and possibly removed. If you are unaware of this, I would like to guide you to blogs that regularly speak of “thinspiration” or “thinspo”, as it’s called. Where some people admittedly just want to be thin, which is fine… but many many others push this to limits that are extremely harmful… and these are the blogs I’m referring to.

Thanks for your time,

Carl Connor (http://carlconnor.tumblr.com/)

I have no expectations… but I can hope.

***edit: And by the way, feel free to reblog this letter to your followers. If enough people are aware of the problem and get in touch with tumblr, they’ll have to listen.***

… goes a little something like this: Ridiculously well-prepared and made-up photo that must have been taken a dozen times just so they can look good and pretend no effort went in, titled with a totally uninteresting comment, more likely than not seeking confirmation that they look good.

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“Just woke up, OMG I’m such a mess”

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“Getting ready to to out, I look dreadful”
 
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“New follower”
 
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“Eating pizza, I’m SUCH A SLOB”
 
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Ahhh, I’ve fallen down a mineshaft!

(Source: carlconnor)