Lately I’ve been reevaluating my relationships with social media and of course this website. I’ve been sharing instagram stories of my entire trip in bangkok, and there was this persistent subconscious question of why do I even bother.
I still don’t really know why – I mean sometimes we just really don’t know our unconscious motives – but am writing this note down for reference. For me I guess I just enjoy sharing what I experience so people can see through my eyes, to experience a little of the world I am experiencing. A thousand people can go to bangkok and they would capture different things. Or they may go to the same places I go and yet gather radically different experiences. I like seeing the world through people’s eyes too.
Some people have issues with social media because they think it invokes jealousy and a sense of inadequacy. I mostly don’t experience these sentiments. I don’t feel like my life is lacking because my friend is in Maldives. There is envy of course, I too want to know what it is like to live above clear turquoise waters, but it wouldn’t send me into a spiralling depression. I know this differs from person to person, so I have become sensitive to what I share.
But ultimately I just want to be myself online too. Maybe due to sensitivities I don’t really enjoy interacting with people in real life, so the online world has always been the majority of my world. I like the intimacy it can offer and yet the distance.
I guess that is why I share stuff online. Apart from sharing my thoughts on taboo subjects to make similar souls feel less alone, I share my obscure thoughts so I have a hope of connecting to someone out there.
The internet makes me feel extremely lonely sometimes, but without it I’ll feel utterly hopelessly alienated.
Why do you share stuff online?