I had a friend call me up a few days ago. He likes to talk, and I like to listen – since he majors in philosophy and has a very unique take on the world. Anyway, he started talking about how he was excited about people liking his recent posts on Instagram, but he prefaced the conversation by apologizing for commenting on something so mundane. This was very odd to me and made me think that maybe I was the one approaching social media wrong, but maybe I’m not.
For starters, if you are sharing something on social media, you are looking to let people know that you are happy about something. In my friend’s case, he had just had the chance to perform at an open mic night after spending a long time teaching himself how to play guitar and writing a few songs of his own, and then the other was his most recent poem. These are things that he is incredibly proud of and should be happy to boast about. For me, I use social media to show people when I wore a dress I really love or did an impromptu photoshoot with my kittens, which is something I should be just as happy to share. Social media is about letting people know you are happy.
With that, I saw no reason for him to apologize. He was excited that people cared about him being happy and I was excited to hear it. It’s great to know that people are cheering you on when you are trying very hard to succeed and there is no fault in enjoying that.
Don’t get me wrong, you shouldn’t be judging your worth by how many likes you get on a photo. My kitten photos got fewer likes than a photo of me sticking my tongue out, but I had a ton of fun taking every single one of those photos (including the one of me sticking my tongue out). Don’t sacrifice your enjoyment just to get people to like your photos.
Social media reflects the times when you were happy. If other people are celebrating with you, you are allowed to be excited about it. Never apologize for your success.