How social media ruined my horoscope for me
A few weeks ago, I trekked to East Oakland for my first knotless braid. It’s common to leave the hair salon feeling like you’ve been to therapy, catch up on the latest pop culture tee, and grab a sleek new hairstyle en masse. This time was no exception.My stylist and I talked about the day we landed on the subject of our dating and started exchanging stories.
She laments her exes and how each of them sign “Aquarius is a liar, manipulative, Pisces man? Good luck girl!”
As she shared her bad experiences with each sign, I thought about my good experiences with those signs and vice versa. It was something I had never experienced before. I go to Twitter now and can see multiple tweets that say “If (insert gender) is (insert symbol), do it!” In that moment, I realized that by flattening people into one-dimensional stereotypes based solely on their birthdays, I was robbing horoscopes of their joy.
Interest in astrology has reached a crescendo. Whether platonic or romantic, meeting someone and asking about their zodiac sign is almost a must. We are overjoyed when our new friend tells us that we are also an earth sign, but when our date tells us that we are a fire sign, we quietly start planning our way out. Not surprisingly, interest in zodiac signs and planets has reached his highest in 10 years in 2020, thanks to the flood of horoscopes and astrology on social media. Google Trends.
I’m glad people are tapping into this kind of spirituality, but I’m taking it a little too far. What used to be an almost existential way of life has become the only thing I need to know about you. Confirm any preconceived notions I may have had. very Recognizing their signs and other people’s characteristics. Before getting to know someone, people use little information about your sign to decide if you’re worth their time. It’s a little unhealthy and toxic.
My introduction to horoscopes probably started, like most girls in the 90s, in a lifestyle magazine. Flip through the last few glossy pages to peruse the horoscope. I didn’t think much of it. I knew I was a Virgo, just like Michael Jackson. As a shy, introspective preteen, reading my horoscope monthly was a way to get out of my head to gain more clarity on my life.
The importance of mental health and self-care hadn’t hit the mainstream yet, but reading my horoscope was a way to find solace when I had a lot of questions about how I should be.
I had another friend who was obsessed with horoscopes (who was also a Virgo), and late at night, after finishing his homework, he logged into a slow-loading horoscope site and on his parents’ phone said, We were discussing what the stars have. for us. Reading horoscopes in the late 1990s and his early 2000s was such an extraordinary and frankly weird hobby that our other friends didn’t get it.
Astrology and astrology have made us dream about who we are and what we can do in a day, week or year. Sometimes it was accurate, sometimes it wasn’t, but the practice didn’t lead me to judge others differently. I read my horoscope and live my life.
Today, what was once fringe has gone mainstream.You’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t know at least their Sun sign, natal chart, natal chart best friend signand somehow, the sign of their cute new neighbor.
It has also gained millions of followers in just a few years thanks to meme pages like @glossy.zodiac and @bitch.rising, and based on those posts, it is possible to draw out the supposed personality traits of those zodiac signs. It’s quick and easy to determine. Meme pages tied common human behavior to specific zodiac signs to create a new social norm for the zodiac. With one glance at one of these pages, you could argue that Scorpio is evil, Libra is insecure, and Aries is insecure.
I can’t count how many times I’ve done something basic like buy coffee, clean my room, or write a list. Not a day goes by that I don’t see the little things I do as representing my zodiac sign. Someone I wanted to be friends with has decided not to be friends with me once they found out about my sun sign. We would get along well, but they found the placement of Jupiter inconsistent with my 4th or 9th house and now we are not friends. What do you think?
Horoscopes are a fun way to learn more about ourselves and others, but the purpose of social media has shifted from connecting us more deeply to categorizing us. If we act too aggressive we should be Gemini but that is incompatible with Taurus who wants to sleep and relax. Check out my favorite horoscope site for a more thoughtful glimpse of what the universe has in store for me.
Despite their increasing novelty, horoscopes remain relevant as they meet our needs to be seen and accepted. refinery29, writer Elizabeth Gurino explains: We pour out our natal charts and see our personality reflected in the placement of the planets. We want to be recognized and understood. “
It has always been the purpose of astrology in my life — to understand who I am and get closer to the people around me. Virgo would say
https://www.essence.com/lifestyle/how-social-media-ruined-horoscopes-for-me/ How social media ruined my horoscope for me
