‘I really want to unfollow her!” A line commonly heard by social media users, who’ve had enough of the person that floods their feed with insanely hedonistic selfies and uploads posts with humblebrag captions about their #blessed life. People have had enough of the breast-feeding mother who looks for any excuse to share a picture of this “beautiful moment”. Or the one person telling their seemingly imaginary audience that “Coffee is the only way to start the day” as they share a Boomerang of their coffee mug being tilted from side to side.
Social media is not a new phenomenon. It has been around for years. There are unspoken rules and etiquettes to posting on Instagram or Facebook. Even Kim Kardashian adheres to a “No more than three pictures a day rule”. Yet, everyone knows at least one person who simply doesn’t obey. Or maybe they just haven’t quite figured out that people grimace confusedly at their posts and scroll past them while rolling their eyes.
But, what if that humble bragger, #blessed hashtag user, yoga pose picture-taker, is a friend that you know and love? Would it change the way you treat them?
It is well-known that people’s online presence is not who they are in real life, but sometimes it’s filled with so many odd moments, you simply cannot tolerate it.
Kelly is an amazing person who can talk for hours about travel and food. She is passionate about her job and loves spending her free time with friends and family. But Kelly shares every living moment of her day with her followers, whom she likes to refer to as “fans” — a term that many social media influencers use, and all other mere mortals grimace at. The second-hand embarrassment was real.
Kelly also posts up-close selfies captioned #NoMakeUpMakeUp and likes to show the world the chia seed pudding she is having for breakfast. Her posts are always very staged and nauseating.
“My Saturday is better than your Saturday”, she captions a photo of her lazing on a pink inflatable swan in the middle of the pool, enjoying a bright red Popsicle. “My best friend is better than your best friend”, she captions another photo of her and a very tanned blonde girl making kissy faces at the camera.
That is when the excuses to avoid seeing Kelly started flooding in: “Sorry I’m busy at work” and “Oh I’ve already made plans.” She may have been hurt, but it got to a point where she was so insufferable on social media that she could no longer be tolerated in real life. The discrepancy between the person you know in real life and what they share online can sometimes be too uncomfortable to deal with.
It isn’t just friendships that are ruined through self-promotional social media posts; it’s also potential romantic relationships. Nowadays, people instantly do a Google search on their prospective partners. If their Instagram is full of too many selfies or they use the most cringe-worthy hashtags, then there’s an instant aversion to ever see them again.
Nowadays, we use social media to communicate with one another. Between the comments, meme sharing, snapchats and Insta stories, we see each other online more than in person. We bond over the places we’ve been to and the restaurants we’ve eaten at. If the person you want to be with has strange online habits, you tend to question, whether or not it’s viable.
On the other hand, in this day and age most people have the freedom to be whoever they want to in person and on social media. Our generation constantly tries to fight against conforming to society’s boring rules. Yet, here I am, judging people on oversharing their #Basic life on Instagram. To that I will say, I don’t care. If you flood my feed with duckface selfies. I reserve the right to unfollow you.
