I love Dude With Sign posts. We all do. They’re hilarious, mostly. But recently, there was the “Stop Posting Your Home Workouts” post. Our very own Diljit Dosanjh photoshopped his own face into it and reposted it on his feed. Many agreed, they’re fried with seeing people post their daily workout routines that is keeping […]
I love Dude With Sign posts. We all do. They’re hilarious, mostly. But recently, there was the “Stop Posting Your Home Workouts” post. Our very own Diljit Dosanjh photoshopped his own face into it and reposted it on his feed. Many agreed, they’re fried with seeing people post their daily workout routines that is keeping them sane at a time when we’re all cooped up to survive. Then there was Farah Khan, calling out celebrities posting fitness videos, saying some of us have bigger concerns during this crisis. “I can understand that you all are privileged, and you do not have any other worries in this global pandemic except for looking after your figures,” she said. Ouch.
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From the actors’ side of said privilege, Deepika Padukone explained that it’s not about how it’s not about how they look, but how they feel. And well, isn’t the Internet all about how people are feeling right now?
These are just two examples of a call out and a defense. There are hundreds of them out there right now. And it’s not the first time that we’ve become these two teams. There’s always this incessant “stop what you post” culture that we are time and again indulging in. For every Houseparty screenshot ever, there’s one that says we don’t need to know about who you video called today. Five people are gardening, the other five want to tell them to garden, but not Instagram it. Dalgona coffee (our typical Indian beaten coffee) has gone viral, and even Indians are enthusiastically participating in making it, with another half nodding in disapproval, saying that it’s basically our Indian phetti coffee. I agree, it is. But it’s also okay to make it and have fun with it when the world has just woken up to it, and call it your own.
We all have at least one person on our feed who has posted a picture of their bookshelf, someone who is tuning into CureFit live workout sessions, someone who has finally downloaded TikTok, or someone who is baking every day. Yes, they post about it. Yes, they nominate you in a Bingo challenge. The real question here is: Why the hell not?
This is a conversation that, frankly, fits into any time since the inception of BBM, to the invention of TikTok. When it comes to social media, oversharing is extremely subjective, and so is the content someone wishes to post. “Cringe” is also extremely subjective. But right now, especially, is a trying time for everyone. And I mean everyone. People aren’t posting their fitness videos for validation, no one’s posting because they want approvals. Everyone is doing it because irrespective of if they’re home alone or living with someone, the only way to socialise right now is social media. Post work drinks at a lounge is now a FaceTime date, the dance class in the morning with 10 other people is now following a video in the living room. The friendly banter with the househelp is now you sweeping and washing vessels alone or with a partner who you’ve already been seeing for two weeks, and will be the only person you see for some more time. So when you can hold a party through a screen, share a title of a book that you love, or bake cookies that you’d otherwise distribute within your colleagues and friends, do it.
The best part about social media is that you can ignore those who you personally find “annoying”. So, the option you’re looking for is not calling out or telling someone to not work out in front of their screen or not sip coffee live on Instagram, the option you’re looking for is mute. That way, everyone gets to be happy and do what they like, as everyone should be.
The narrative of social media in the past one month has changed, and it’s going to continue changing. We’re going to see a lot of personal content, advice, yoga, living rooms, a kitchen cabinet…and we’re all going to come out of it much happier if we just let people do what they like on their social media, and do what we like.
Eat, post, repeat. Or eat, don’t check someone else’s post, repeat. It’s a choice. We’re all looking for the same thing, really. Some social normalcy during social distancing.
