I have no problem looking at myself in pictures, but why do I hate seeing myself in video?

Because you move strangely.

Trust me on this.

Because you see how you move and hear how you sound and catch all those mannerisms you can’t tell you have from inside, and it just drives you nuts. We sound differently from inside than out, and we are so used to how we sound that we when we hear ourselves as others hear us, it is just wrong, and that is very disturbing.

It’s the same for the way we look. Looking out from inside doesn’t give us a good sense of how we come across. We never come across as we imagine, but then, we are never nearly as bad as we think we are.

Three dimensional aspect, maybe you have a massive arse.
It is said being on screen puts 10lbs on you. This may or may not be bullshit, but it’s one theory anyhoo.

Because a video puts 10 pounds on you and you didn’t realize how big your hips were.~

And don’t do that weird thing with you lips.

You don’t really know what you look like. Okay, or at least I don’t know what I look like. I do, but only from my own point of view. Seeing me from any other point of view is very interesting.

I don’t like it either…it doesn’t look like the way I feel!

Next time, put your left hand on your hip. Bend your right knee. Rest your right fingertips just behind your right ear. Then throw your head back and go “Wooo, wooo, wooo!” Tell me if that doesn’t make a BIG difference!

Let’s see the video…uhurmm…

It is disconcerting, in the same way that listening to my own voice in a recording is. It’s just plain weird.

I’m the same way. I hate hearing how I sound. Funny how others don’t seem to be repelled by my voice and yet I hate it.

Wundayatta describes it well. There is a self awareness we have which is the way we think we are coming across to others. It has to do with our self-perception. We hear our voice from inside our heads, we see ourselves from an interior vantage point. Then, we see a video of oursleves and it seems all wrong, or at the least, a little disconcerting. Now we are looking at ourselves and seeing what others see. It can give us newfound insecurities. We need to adjust our self perceptions. But in this day and age of easily recorded videos, and skyping and gmail chat I would think that disconnect is becoming much less common. After a while we get used to seeing how we look to others and it doesn’t seem so stange. We get used to seeing how different emotions play across our faces. We know how we look when we are laughing, flirting and puzzling over something. It’s kind of a cool thing to know. I like it and I’ve grown used to seeing myself somewhat. Of course, I don’t always like what I see but it’s not as disconcerting as it once was.

I know right? I wonder if a camera followed me around for a day and I watched the footage what I would look like. I bet I’d be all “what the hell am I doing? Do I actually talk like that? Why do I look so awkward?” shudder.

Once I kept the camera on my laptop recording while just browsing the net and WTF, it was weird. But probably wouldn’t be as bad as someone recording footage of me in a social situation, I’d die if I watched that I think.

On the voice thing, I can’t stand listening to mine. It’s not feminine or nice at all.

- End rant on digital self. -