She posted what?! From where?! Saying what?! Sorry, but aren’t some things supposed to be private? Today we’re asking one of the many controversial questions that surround modern day social media — how real is too real?
We’ve all been there: you’re scrolling through your feed halfheartedly, taking in the lattes and the flowers and the OOTD’s, when something out of the ordinary stops you mid-flick. Be it a particularly jarring photo of something gory or intimate, or a long-winded paragraph waxing poetic about a bad day, you’re caught off guard, suddenly forced to digest something a lot heavier than you’re used to seeing on the given medium. How do you react? One camp might say it’s a welcome change of pace — a dose of realness from the poster reaching out to their audience for moral support, and a refreshing message amongst sameness and “perfection”. The other camp might equate it to a publicity stunt — an act of self-deprecation made to draw attention.
The challenging thing about social media is that since it’s so new, there’s really no set of rules or guidelines as to what’s appropriate. Sure, something might seem to be tacky and TMI to you, but there’s no Emily Post of the digital age to back you up. And if reality television has taught us anything, it’s that exposing yourself to the public and airing out your dirty laundry pays — birth and death, intimacy and heartbreak are all fodder for entertainment. The question is, what role should you play in it all?
Personally, I tend to use social media for surface level interactions and look to in-person relationships for deeper conversations… but maybe I’m just old fashioned? Or worse, maybe I’m inauthentic and just-showing-the-good-things online. What do you think?
