During the presidential election in 2004 I remember my mom explaining to me why it's not always a good thing to talk about politics. Not thinking much of it, I embraced this view. In terms of politics, world events and social issues I have mostly refrained from sharing my opinion with the world.

However, it’s been hard for me to say silent over the past two weeks.

Why?

I've felt the heavy weight of despair and mourning for all the people affected by recent events: riots in Mizzou, terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut, incidents at Harvard, the Syrian refugees. I have been following news stories every day and at this point it has become disgustingly regular for me to wonder, “What’s next?”

But seeing these events play out online has also disturbed me. I have been thinking a lot these days about the larger concept of social media and how we portray ourselves online. It sounds so stereotypical-college-student, but I’ve been taking a class on Digital Anthropology and it has opened my eyes to how different the online space is than the offline one. I’ve learned about how we subconsciously create an identity online that is not necessarily true or congruous with our offline ones. I've recognized that we fine-tune everything we put online, we emulate all of our deepest self-desires and put them into our online profiles.

It’s important to recognize that online spaces are mostly self-centered and superficial. Most of what you see from your friends online is not genuine or real.

Because of that, I’ve wondered why people have been turning to social media as a means to cope during tragic events. Friends from all walks of life have been speaking out on Facebook about many of the events going on at the moment. Of course, I am friends with some people on Facebook who regularly post about current issues. They are online activists, they are committed because they post so regularly, they have a voice that is heard. I want to make it clear that as I go further, I am not addressing these people, because I have the utmost respect for them and their work.

What I am mostly talking about: large chunks of people posting on Facebook regarding world events -- people normally would never post anything of that matter. Two weeks ago there was an enormous influx of statuses regarding the students at Mizzou. At first I only saw a few people post about it, but then my entire news feed consisted of “I stand in solidarity with the students at Mizzou,” a status copied and pasted over and over again. At first I saw nothing wrong with it, but as it appeared on more and more user pages it had me wondering: How much of this is a trend?

And that’s honestly how I feel about those statuses. Although people might have had the best intentions at heart, in my eyes many were simply contributing to a trend. I think some felt obligated, they felt like it could relieve some of the “guilt” they might have for contributing in their own ways to supremacy issues. While there were a few genuine anecdotes and statuses put out there, I feel like a lot posted that night were not genuine. Posting a status on Facebook about Mizzou shouldn’t make you feel like you’re doing “the right thing” because in reality you're only posting a status on Facebook.

I think the problem with mixing tragedy and social media is that people always find a way to make it about themselves. Take the Paris terror attacks as an example: I was personally affected by these attacks. I am French, I have a dual citizenship and I have a lot of family living in Paris. I spent a good few hours that Friday night freaking out. Luckily, everyone in my family is OK. And while there were a few minutes that I debated posting something about it, I realized it was unnecessary. Writing something would only be me talking about my connection to France and my family. I would be making this devastating event about myself, and it wasn’t about me. It was about the 140 people who perished for no reason. When I saw people posting throwback photos of the Eiffel Tower and talking about how they went to Paris recently and they loved it and their heart was broken...it disturbed me.

I understand that this might be a coping mechanism, but I'm not sure how changing your profile picture to the French flag is ethical. Once again people made this devastating event into a trend. People had their profile pictures of themselves partying or in a bikini during their recent trip to St. Barths, or doing dumb things overlaid with the French flag because it represented their grievance. How is that solidarity? I’m not discounting people’s grief or support for France itself. But I just wonder how much of a profile picture change is genuine and how much of it is just contributing to a trend. Why would we let Facebook commodify tragedy?

And we continue to see this on Snapchat as well. Snapchat offered a “Support France” filter for a few days, too. And I’m not sure if that is quite appropriate. Snapchat had the same feature earlier this year to bring awareness to college rape. When I saw the filter I was in shock. I understand that Snapchat was trying to bring awareness through their position of power (which is great and is definitely something people SHOULD be doing), however, I don’t find it appropriate to have a filter about college rape in a place where people are mostly taking stupid selfies and sending nudes. It was just really unsettling to me.

And I don’t want to confuse this with social media campaigns that have been successful in the past -- for example: the ALS ice bucket challenge which gained millions of dollars in donations in support for ALS, and spread awareness about the disease. Another example: the rainbow profile picture filter that supported the marriage equality act, which was only at the root of a celebration. I know social media has the power to bring change: the Egyptian revolution solely began because of Twitter. I don’t want my interpretation of social media to confuse anyone into saying that we shouldn’t pay attention to tragedy -- because we should. Spreading awareness and showing support in response to horrible events is one of humankind's most redeeming qualities. So I should clarify that I am very aware of the counterargument to my rant.

However, if you really do care about the cause, try living your life offline. Get involved in ways where you can actually make a difference. Go to protests, go to vigils. College campuses across the country have all given students opportunities for reflection on the events of the last few weeks. All I’m saying is that if you actually mean what you said in your Mizzou status, or in the caption of your Paris profile picture, maybe you should go out there and do something that actually reflects it.

Lastly, I would just like to say that this only is my opinion, and I’m finally sharing it. I’m not discounting anyone’s feelings and I’m really not trying to offend anyone. I’m just wondering how right it is to bring generated support during hard times into a place where people are already being fake.