The way that this essay started quickly made me feel a connection with the writer. It was more than an initial understanding about what was being said, rather, I agreed with her perception about drawing conclusions when first meeting someone. I actually was able to visualize an instance when I underwent the same emotions and series of observations.
First impressions can’t even be truly accurate because people usually tend to show their different sides depending on whose surrounding them. The idea of ‘judging a book by its cover’ is interesting because in one aspect people can be viewed as hypocrites when they claim to fully follow this phrase. Its inevitable for us to “judge” someone or something at any given time, whether its the first time or on a different occasion. We naturally have the tendency to observe people and draw conclusions whether they are always right at first or not.
We also need to take into account whether we are judging a physical person that is in front us or if we are looking at their posts (basically what they choose to show is from their social media). In my opinion social media may be an accurate depiction of one event but not about the whole person. They usually are only showing us what they think is the best or most praise worthy or most interesting parts of their lives. Even the quantity or relevance of your followers reflects on how one would interact with them. Its very common that a large percentage of followers are acquaintances or friends of friends or maybe even strangers. Social media opens the door for people to “follow” what your doing but probably haven’t or would never come up to you in person and actually introduce themselves. Overall, there are many instances and ways that Caroll’s essay addresses the different aspects of first impressions, but ‘judging a book by its cover’ seems most relevant to me.
I find it interesting how you make that distinction between a physical person in front of us and what they choose to show on social media. It’s very easy for people to make judgments on people based solely on what they show on social media because sometimes it’s what we mostly see, but when we see someone in person it could be a completely different experience that can change the way we see that same person. It’s good to make that distinction and understand that the difference exists.