February 3, 2014 - Written by: Charlie Sutcliffe

Is Social Media Channeling a New Wave of Attention Seekers?

I am definitely against people propagating ideals of themselves for no other discernible purpose than to derive attention. This happens a lot nowadays, especially with the influx of social media and the inevitable purpose for which people use it. There is a never ending cycle of “look at me” and it is relatively frustrating. This is made even more unbearable when people’s genuine talents go unnoticed. For example, those brilliant folks who can actually play the piano, or can actually act or write. You know, the ones who want to contribute something to the world and share a voice and an opinion, not just try to win the popularity contest of selfies? Look, there’s nothing wrong with selfies! I’ve heard it’s a celebration of the self; an undeniable great thing where girls like you and I can get out of bed and say “I look great. People need to see this.” It’s accepting ourselves for who we are, right? I’m not convinced. A pretty picture is great, but not when masked with some cyber society ideal that we all need to look a certain way, and we should all have our boobs out too. All I’m saying is that we should try and do things for the right reasons. It’s better for the soul and society as a whole.

(Image via)

Recently I wrote an article which received a bit of back lash because I was suggesting that not everyone wants to hear or see everything everyone posts on social media. I received a lot of “who are you to judge someone’s talents” and “don’t be a hater, just let people be who they are”. I don’t want to prevent people from expressing themselves. I just really wish people would have the right intentions in mind. As far as I’m concerned, there are two main intentions for posting things on social media sites. There’s posting stuff for attention and then there is posting stuff for contribution, and yes they can and quite frequently do overlap. That’s inevitable and it’s also human nature to want affirmation for your efforts. The fact is, it’s great to celebrate yourself and show off your talents. If I didn’t admit that, I’d be a hypocrite by posting this article on my Facebook site.

We all have a very unique and potentially powerful voice.

We all have things we can contribute freely to the world. You should be unduly encouraged to give everything you’ve got to the world. Brilliance and contribution are worthless when they’re locked inside your head. It’s important to express yourself and your opinions in whatever field you feel you need to. It’s important to work hard at being a better person. It’s also important to believe you can and that you are good enough because someone will take what you’ve given them and really appreciate it. Nevertheless, it’s important not to try to cause people envy, but to inspire them. It’s great if you can relate to people and help people. There’s always one person who’s going to take or interpret something great from what you’ve given them, especially if the motives are right.

Attention seeking has never been good for anyone. The world has enough of that. In our celebrity saturated culture, we thrive off what he said and what she said. It’s all not to be taken too seriously, but people should be working towards steering clear of that. The truth is, you have something important to say, and something great to become it’s silly to waste time with the mundane attention seekers who contribute nothing more than the breadth of an inferiority complex.

What I’d love to see is people who provide something honest and raw and real. We already have enough lies in our society and enough bad and toxic intentions. I mean, we’re all capable of it, aren’t we? We all have talents and treasures that others haven’t seen, and stories others haven’t heard. Other people need to know about those. We all have a voice and a contribution to make so tell people about it. Affirmation for that is a great thing, but seeking attention and trying to be famous for the sake of it is silly and mundane and people are better than that, so go on and show the best parts of yourself off and give the world everything you can!

More articles on social media? Check out ‘I Know You ‘Like’ Me But Do You Like Me?’