Sharing is Caring

Hi again, 

    Today I'm going to be talking about the dynamics of sharing posts and pictures on social media. For starters, have you ever asked yourself why you are publicly sharing a post or do you just do it without thinking about it? This is something I personally REALLY had to think about. While digging into the question I looked back on the last thing that I shared on my Instagram - which was Taylor Swift's post about redoing her old album Fearless. Now I posted this because I freaking love T-Swift and I will be a fan until I die (that was dramatic I know). I shared this news of hers because I am obviously very excited to listen to her album every day, but then I started to notice that everyone and their mom was also sharing it and that made me feel cool and relatable. Now, that wasn't the reason I originally shared the post but then I shared ANOTHER one to make me feel even cooler than everyone else and their mom, right! This just goes to ask the question of- are we really sharing for ourselves or so we can be relatable to others?

    Social media plays a big part of who a person is nowadays. It is really easy to share your opinions now without them directly coming from you, which we would call this sharing. Sharing can mean retweeting on Twitter, reposting someone's picture (or your own) to your story, or sharing a post on Facebook. But something that isn't really talked about when we talk about sharing is "liking" a post or picture. Politics would be a good example for this because they will always be a controversial topic and depending on what you share or even like, people will notice. During the election I noticed people tweeting things like "Unfollowing everyone on my feed who likes Trump's posts", so even a like can count as unintentionally sharing your interest in something. It's also crazy to me that what you like is physically not a private thing on some social media platforms. Have you ever had a friend who would fight with their significant other because they would go through their followers' pictures to see what pictures they liked? BIKINI PICTURES are a very hot topic when talking about this, because some girlfriends believe it to be disrespectful if their significant other is liking a scandalous photo.

    On a deeper level, many people will share pictures and posts that are from a loved one who passed, or maybe even someone who just is not in their life anymore. I can't speak for everyone who shares these posts or pictures - but I know I do it out of remembrance. Not to get too personal here, but anyone who follows me on social media probably sees the same photos of my mom and I every year for her birthday. This is just my way of wishing her a happy birthday in heaven, so instead of reposting these pictures every year on my feed I will share them to my story instead. I especially will share things when I am sad and grieving and it's not to seek attention, it's more of a coping mechanism to help myself. I would say that this way of sharing is a very healthy thing, even if you don't want to talk about the situation or to that person - you still are able to look back on your cherished memories. 

    The big question is simply why do we as humans enjoy sharing posts? There can be many reasons for sharing a post like "the sunset looks pretty" or "Nick Jonas looks so hot so I just had to share". But would that mean that we are self centered in the fact that sharing the post was really for yourself even though it was made to be seen publicly? This is something I have spent time thinking about because I do this all the time. I will share things on my Instagram stories because I like them or because I think they are cool, even though I know that people are just going to skip over my story anyways. In all honesty, sometimes there is no actual meaning for a post at all, and that's perfectly okay. I wouldn't say that this makes you selfish at all, because it's your social media accounts and if people don't like what you post then there is a giant unfollow button right around the corner. 

    Sharing on social media is the perfect way to connect people to certain things of your interests, to share songs, to share amazing pictures, etc. Without sharing, what the heck would social media even be?! As a human, you are entitled to your own likes, dislikes, and opinions. My mom always told me "sharing is caring", so whatever you want to share on social media- go for it.