This is an issue that I have not properly addressed. In my earlier posts about demand, I mentioned that people are obviously not clamoring for a way to look at themselves on screen and that this masks both good uses for the app and the actual demand for it. Let me elaborate on why that is so.
I definitely agree that looking at one’s own face on screen is uncomfortable. I have a hard enough time looking at my picture here at My Dream App next to the contestants. It’s a funny story… I gave Phil a hard time sending in my photo, because I don’t own a camera and don’t keep many digital pictures of myself. Phil said that I was holding up the announcement that I was a finalist and can testify. I only have a smirk on my face because it’s so hard to smile on command for a camera. This whole time I’ve been worried about people making a judgment based on how silly I look.
But that’s exactly how iVlog can be of use. Journaling in general is supposed to help us be more comfortable with ourselves through better understanding ourselves and our lives. A video journal is the most honest way to do that. Not being able to stand a face-to-face encounter with a recording of yourself is not humility. And it most certainly is not egotistical to be comfortable with your moving image.
A video journal can help us see ourselves the way the world sees us. Consequently, we can use it to help the world see us more clearly. It’s better than looking in the mirror, because the mirror distorts your image by flipping it. Your haircut doesn’t look like that. Your face is the opposite of what you think it is. Your voice definitely doesn’t sound like how you hear it. Every bad American Idol singer would have learned this already if they used a little iVlog.
Futhermore, years from now, a mirror will not be able to show you the person you once were.
Wil Shipley implied that using this app would be egotistical. I thought he was joking, but I read a post at Ars Technica that also mentioned discomfort. A private and honest meeting with yourself at the end of the day, for the purposes of better understanding and being more comfortable with yourself, is the opposite of egotistical.
The more comfortable we are with ourselves, the better relationships we’ll have. The better we’ll be at public speaking. The better we’ll be in any kind of personal interaction.
Is this app idea so bad that it should be eliminated in the first round? With your comments and feedback, we can address problems and make it better.
