Over-sharing Movement.

A few months back, I went to a special event with my cousin and little sister. We got to meet some very famous people and see some incredible exhibits. For every "Facebook" and "Instagram" moment, I pulled out my camera and took as many pictures as possible. After a while, I noticed that whenever I asked my cousin if she wanted to be in a picture, she would say, "That's okay. I don't need a picture to remember a day like this." Once I got home and started uploading my pictures to my laptop, I realized what she meant.

It's no longer about keeping those precious moments in our lives preserved to cherish on your own; it's more about displaying them to boost your pride; to show everyone what a great life you're having. We are more focused on acquiring attention and reaction to what we say and do in this day and age. Our lives feel more gray and less exciting if we don't have someone telling us how amazing and great we are on a daily basis. For some reason we are more addicted to this "attention to status high." We are now more prone to forget what it was like to live day to day without having to prove to anyone what a wonderful day it was for us.

Why should we care anyway? All of this attention and focus on living our lives through a screen is tearing us away from what we used to do; remembering those moments for our own enjoyment and reflection.

Sure, posting quotes, events, petitions, movements, and such can lead to great conversations and realizations, but we were already doing that before the internet boomed to an all time high. Before the internet and social media, not sharing every moment in our lives or every thought in our minds didn't mean we were less sociable. We all understood that there was a time and place for everything, and if we didn't show everyone all the pictures of our kids growing up, we weren't less popular for doing so.

Now, pulling out our phones and shoving every snot and drool filled picture is considered normal. Sitting through all the stories of "why my kid is the cutest little thing in the whole world," doesn't make you or your kid special. Let me rephrase; the people who hear things like that won't remember every story about your kids. If they don't genuinely care ,(which, besides close family and friends who like you enough to listen to all of that) they won't bother to retain every detail you are shoving down their throats.

For some reason, people who are part of this over-share movement, get quite offended if you don't attentively listen and "ooh" and "ahh"  to every moment about "why my kid can do this and that" or "why my life is that important that I have to tell everyone every time I see them." Yet they unapologetically and sometimes inconsiderately parade these pictures like trophies for the rest of us to bow down to.

I realize that this rant will probably never see anyone's eyes but mine, however I feel like it's something that I've had to deal with for the past 2 years. And to be quite honest, I am really sick of it. I hope to never display behavior like this when I have kids (God willing).