The Paparazzi Behind The Screen

Lately I have begun to develop a keen sense of distaste towards people. “Is it the man that wears the beast or is it the beast that wears the man?” I had read that a while back. Are we inherently good people who happen to be bad at times or are we inherently bad ones who just don’t have the courage to appear bad. But that blog post is for another day, it can wait. So can everything, but nevertheless let me rant about something that has been bothering me too much lately .

We as a generation seem to have been hypnotized in the things that don’t matter. The generation which is so obsessed with posting, “I don’t care what you think” in social media is the one who is obsessing over the likes. Ironically, the entire generation can’t wait to share the pics of that expensive restaurant they went to or that click they scored in just “the right light”. It needs to be shared, it needs to be looked at, it needs to be appreciated. Every victory needs to be applauded by others. People don’t want to go on vacation because it is fun, they want to go on vacation because they want to be seen going to vacation. They don't want to win, they want to be seen winning. They don't want to achieve, they want to be seen achieving. 

So, what’s the problem then? Haven’t we always wanted to flaunt the victories over the top of our lungs? Haven’t we always wished our friends to notice our expensive shoes? Or shout about how great our mark was in that particular subject?

The problem goes a bit deeper here. We have become obsessed with other watching us. In other words, we have become dependent on the audience. We need audience to feel good. We need audience to clap. We need audience to tell us we look great. In simpler words, the grand generation that has been audacious to say, “I don’t care about what you think”, has lost the ability to exist on his own. The crutch of audience has become essential to it’s very existence. The pathetic need to be validated through likes (Oh shut up, you count it over and over again, really ask yourself, what for?), through comments is acting as a major suicidal step in the growth of anyone into an independent being. Your winning has got to be of more importance to you than someone else applauding it. But we as a generation have leaned onto it so much, that now it is hard to stand without it. 

We have surrendered our vulnerability, our precious moments, our win, our freedom to the verdict of strangers. What if they don’t care? And it does not take a genius to know that, well THEY DON’T CARE. Nobody does. It is a circus, just in case you haven’t got the memo yet. 

Maybe social media is fine, once in a while to cheat solitude, maybe it is okay to let the bruises in heart bleed once in a while through the posts. But maybe you should not need them to make you, YOU. Maybe you should not be so eager for the world to clap at your victories, or like your pretty dress. Maybe once in a while you can yourself clap your own victories and it won’t be that bad because the person that would be cheering you, you can count on that person till your last breath.

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