I do see the irony this here, but I have to ask… What’s the point of posting online?
Because I just scrolled social media, and I find myself bored. The feed, if you scroll long enough (and I have, having been at home for a few days) is filled with people just posting for no reason…
I understand the businesses and personal brands who post to promote and sell. I understand the people who simply want to express themselves. And some people post to have memories fed back to them in later years, while others post for validation.
I think my real questions are… Why is my feed filled with this? What does it say about me? What am I looking for when I scroll?
I’m looking for education, entertainment, to love people by their joy. To experience life by different eyes and hearts and minds. That’s what I want my social media experience to be. Hopescrolling, finding glimmers, increasing my life.
But my feed is filled with bite-sized lessons and short hot takes and the occasional “how does this work?” alongside people just posting… nothing. Reposts with no commentary. Quotes that feel good but change nothing. Faces after faces, and hands holding microphones, a parade of people with no intention, no presence, no animation behind what they profess to care about.
And I’m bored. I’m bored of the low-quality videos with no value. Tired of the discrepancy I feel when someone asks for comments and don’t ever respond. The feeling of being fed with nothing and sending likes and hearts and answers into a void.
I long for care, for intention, even for a little actor or presenter’s training. So many people — myself included — are terrible on camera, but feel they should be rewareded for simply showing up. “Take me as I am!” they exclaim, but why should we? Why should anybody?
Looking bad on camera aside, because that is a skill and can be learned, no one’s good at it right off the bat, I want people who care.
We’re already posting into a system that tries to connect your worth to likes and views, and demands that you have a content creation strategy while manipulating what you see. It’s a massive use of time and resources. Why post into it? Why expand all that effort, wasting everybody’s time?
Perhaps I am too negative. (I’m wondering where I am on my hormonal cycle.) I am guilty of posting what I would deem value-less posts as well. I am doing it right now. This post has value only to me, and that is enough.
I think the difference is because it’s social media. My blog is mine. If no one searches for the words I am writing, no one is fed my writing. Social media, on the other hand, pushes you out. Which is great for promotion, but not for… whatever it is that people are doing…
You get to craft an image and/or show up as yourself on social media. We are always choosing a facet of truth to show so it’s going to be both.
Is this how you want to be remembered? Is this how you want to be noticed? And I come back to the original question at the beginning, with a modification.
What’s your/my point in posting online?
I want better. I want to do better. Be seen better. And in better light. It matters to me how I show up online–no, it matters to me how I show up.
✒️✨🧭
Image of a phone taking a photo of macaroons and
a plant on a table by Ylanite Koppens from Pixabay.
