What you may not know is that social media has been around since 1997 and was "born" with a website called Six Degrees, according to History Cooperative's website. Six Degrees was a site for users to create a profile and connect with people. Of course now there are thousands of social media websites, apps, and platforms, but for the past 19 years, the mission of social media has been to connect people.
What you do know is that over the past 10 years, social media has boomed. Selfies have been spreading like wildfire, covering your news feeds and time lines. Statuses, tweets, and photos may get millions of responses. And all of this is great; social media was created and is still for sharing and promoting oneself in order to connect with people.
Yet, here we are, almost 20 years in, and we now have to defend everything we post on our profiles with some kind of greater meaning. This seems to effect women most prominently. For us, Selfies have to be empowering and sharing moments from our lives have to end with a moral. Social media is no longer a channel to share life and enjoy others', but rather it is reserved for posts that supply a purpose or prove an agenda.
Maybe this is because more than 75% of women experience online harassment, and maybe justifying your post is a way to combat this (according to a 2016 Norton study). No one can hurt us if we show everyone how strong we feel or if that latte taught us some sort of life lesson.
I cannot tell you when or why this started happening, but I can tell you that this notion is absurd. You do not have to have a reason to post your selfie. You can post it because it was a part of your day, because you think you look h-o-t, or because you are empowered, but not because you have to look empowered. And telling the world how strong you are is great, but that is not an all-mighty shield against harassment.
If something brought you joy today or you learned a lesson, post it on Facebook, but do not feel that you cannot post if you did not somehow become enlightened by the little things.
With all of this said, the ~moral~ of the story, if you will, is that your social media is your own platform. It is up to you to decide what you post and why you are posting it. I encourage you to think about your motivations. Are you posting because you think it is what other people want to see? Will it somehow protect you from hateful comments? Or are you posting it because it is what you want on your social profile?
Take your media, post what you want and share on!
