The art of regret and social media

Regret is the universe's way of saying, "Ha!I told you so". And no one, not even the most boring, inactive person in the world can escape from regret. Facebook especially has this way of making you wish that you never created an account in the first place by showing you the most cringe-worthy posts in your 'memories' section. I see people posting about their feelings, about betrayal, about that valentines day spat they had with their significant other and essentially using social media like a personal diary, except this personal diary is now being read by millions of people or your mum depending on your social circle.

I was scrolling through some of my own old posts on Facebook that made me cringe and then delete them forever. However, it also made me realise that I have grown up a little bit since then, and I was glad for a split second that I no longer post about the fights I have with people or about that big heartbreak that happened in preschool. This unfortunate and embarrassing encounter with my own regrets made me think of what goes through someone's mind when they post something so personal online. Are they asking for help? Are they hoping that they the intended recipient 'gets the message' from their post? Or are they just reveling in the attention? I tried thinking back to when I had posted these embarrassing things and for the life of me, I couldn't remember why I was possessed by the sudden need to post the chaos in my personal life online. I chalked it up to the folly of youth and then wished that I had thought of something much more profound than that.

Anyway, this brought me back to other people's posts. Because let's face it, focusing on other people is much better than trying to psychoanalyze yourself.

What makes people post their problems on social media? What does one think of when they are posting that extremely passive aggressive quote which is clearly aimed at just one person in particular? Would they, like me, see it 5 years from now and cringe?

Would they go, "What was I thinking?", and then delete that post?

It's almost like playing the lottery, if the intended recipient looks at your post and 'likes' it, it means they have got the message. If not, you will try again the next day and the next day. It's a vicious cycle people!

Apparently there are studies which show that melancholy enriches your capacity to be more creative. Well, if you'd like to take a look at the brighter side of these posts, you could justify it by saying that you were only trying to unlock your creativity. Does taking quotes from other authors and putting it up on your wall count as creativity? You could justify that by saying "I was looking for inspiration". The question isn't about the number of justifications that you can give to other people and sometimes even to yourself. It's about whether you will look at these posts five or ten years from now and regret your decision to spend ten minutes of your life googling quotes and thinking of ways to get someone else to notice you.

Regrets are a part of life and like I said, even someone living under a rock would have moments of regret. But social media somehow manages to magnify those regrets and slap you in the face with it in five years when you have all but completely forgotten about it. Will I regret this post? Ask me in five years!

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