Yes, I was a part of the group of white girls that all posted the exact same picture on Instagram in the span of 30 minutes in high school.
Let me set the scene: we’d take cute pictures at a party, concert, or any event that we all went to together. Naturally we want to put it on Instagram because we liked how they turned out. Every time we did it, there’d always be the classic comments that sarcastically praised us for our ~originality~. I was never offended by it; I always thought it was pretty funny. Not because anyone’s revolutionary “wow never seen this one before” comments made me laugh, but because I just thought it was weird that people…cared. Like your life must be so hard to spend maybe 20 seconds scrolling past the same 6 pictures that some girls posted. Sorry for the HUGE inconvenience. I’ll consider your feelings next time and not post the photos or videos I enjoy.Â
This made me consider the concept of other people caring so much about what others post. It’s not that anyone should genuinely care that my group of friends did something, like go to Coachella. I know that you’re probably not excited to see any of us covered in body glitter, half naked in a field of dead grass. But like, why do some let shit like that annoy them? Even if you don’t make a comment about it on the post, the thought definitely crossed your mind.Â
It goes beyond repetitive posts. Singing videos, bikini pictures, dancing videos, links to photography accounts, links to blogs like this one, posting a song to your story—the list goes on and on. They all get shit on for one reason or another. Having the balls to post anything of that nature when you know there’s assholes out there that are gonna think some rude shit about you, is admirable in its own sense. It’s like this weird stigma that if you post anything more than an original photo of you and a friend once a month, you’re annoying or attention seeking. Hot take: you’re not some great person because you have a discreet social media presence and don’t like to post everything you and your friends are doing. I’m not saying that everyone that doesn’t religiously use Snapchat and Instagram thinks they’re some god tier human being, but you probably know the type I’m talking about.Â
Obviously if what you’re posting about is offensive, rude, or insensitive, you deserve the backlash you’re getting. But the majority of the time people get so annoyed about this harmless content that has no effect on them. If Sally wants to post 37 bikini pictures in a row, let Sally work it! And if it’s bothering you, unfollow her! And if you think she’s just doing it for attention, cool! Maybe she is, maybe she isn’t. It’s her account, she can do whatever makes her feel good.Â
At the end of the day, there’s unfollow and mute buttons for a reason. Just let people do their thing.Â
If you got to the end of this and feel like I was indirectly @ing you, I wasn’t. I’m not really talking about anyone in particular. But if the shoe fits, wear it :-)
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