Post what you want. Just be kind.

I recently came across a tweet which essentially berated people for taking and posting photos of themselves at weddings. The twitter user implied that she thought it was strange that a couple would go to a wedding and post a bunch of selfies of themselves without posting any pictures with the newlyweds. This wasn’t from some troll with an egg icon either. It was from a person I follow on purpose and respect.

There were also several replies to the tweet in which other users (again from real people, not trolls) expressed their fatigue of wedding hashtags (WHAT?! I LOVE WEDDING HASHTAGS), and they expressed annoyance when someone posts a photo from their own wedding to wish their best friend a happy birthday (guess I’m a monster).

Here’s the thing about takes like these. They have the potential to make any social media user super self-conscious about posting anything. The realization that the seemingly benign content we’re sharing might elicit an eye roll from a stranger has the potential to make us feel really small. But the truth is, whatever you chose to post, no matter how harmless, is always going to annoy someone.

Here’s the other thing. We are all self-conscious. On and off social media. Social media is weird because it’s a platform that gives us the capacity to be both content creator and audience member. It’s basically a petri dish for judging each other. But know that every single one of us who posts something on social media has at least some feelings of self-consciousness about it some of the time.

So what am I getting at with this? You may as well post what you want! Take a hundred selfies at your cousin’s wedding, post photos from your own wedding, post your workout, your lunch, your latte, your cat, your book. Or… don’t. You can also post nothing at all. AND GUESS WHAT?! If you’re sick of seeing selfies or wedding photos or workouts or lunches or lattes or cats or books in your feed, the mute button is right there.

No one would ever do anything if we spent all of our time worrying about how the world would react to it. It’s the twenties. Post what you want*, try not give a f*ck about what anyone thinks of you, and let’s all move forward with grace and respect.