Hashtags

      It has recently occurred to me that Hashtags are almost an exact replica of the way our brains respond to an image or phrase. That is, the thoughts that jump into our minds in reaction to said image or phrase. For example, let's say somebody posts a picture of a little puppy on Facebook. Your gut reaction will most likely be to think the picture is cute, or cuddly. Now what hashtags are allowing the person who uploaded that photo to do is direct your attention to the associations they made when they took the picture or first saw it. For instance, they might describe the photo by simply putting "#cute", and "#cuddly". These hashtags will lead you, if you click on them, to a whole group of cute photos, or a treasure trove of cuddly photos. That mirrors our own psychology. When we think a picture is cute we automatically associate (or think of) other cute images or photos we have seen. Or other memories that have been labeled and stored under the "cute" section in our brains.

       I think this is a good thing in the sense that  we are gaining more control. We can direct the viewer to have a response more similar to the desired response when looking at the picture we posted or when reading the phrase we wrote. This goes back to the concept of identity, and how we create our identity, how we build an intricate mask in the digital world (and in life too I guess, for we do have control over that).

     But could it be bad? Is there something about not being told what to thing that fosters a more genuine reaction from the viewer? Is there a sense of manipulation here?