Are you tired of posting on social media?

How often do you post on social media? Are you also only seeing curated, professional posts from brands and influencers instead of casual updates from your friends or acquaintances? You are not alone – most of us have stopped posting spontaneous life updates


Remember when every meal, every outing with friends and every long drive had to be compulsorily documented on social media? From the carefully named and tagged Facebook albums to the aesthetic Instagram page – many of us have grown up with the unsaid rule that every moment, whether mundane or unique, had to be shared. However, of late, if you are seeing only brand and influencer posts on your feed and hardly anything from your friends or family, then you are not alone.

‘I was a social media addict in my 20s; now, I rarely post’
“I was a social media addict in my 20s – all my accounts would be updated with what I was doing. If I was headed to a party, a pre-drink selfie went up, followed by a stream of stories tagging cafés and friends. The next day, it was a hungover selfie on Instagram (until a year ago) and an album on Facebook (until five years back). Today, I travel abroad, go to the most expensive restaurants, probably catch the best sunset – but I rarely post. I don’t remember the last time I posted something because I wanted validation from the 300 people following me on Instagram,” says Ragini Ahuja (33), an audience development manager.
What Ragini describes is a phenomenon that writer and cultural critic Kyle Chayka also pointed out in an essay for The New Yorker. In Are You Experiencing Posting Ennui?, he writes: “We might be heading toward something like Posting Zero, a point at which normal people – the unprofessionalised, uncommodified, unrefined masses – stop sharing things on social media as they tire of the noise, the friction, and the exposure. Posting Zero would mean the end of social media as it was once conceptualised, as a real-time record of the world created by anyone who was experiencing anything at all.”
In our #TalkingPoint, we ask people whether they, too, have stopped or limited posting their life online.

‘Social media has now become more about marketing than building on relationships’
For others, the shift is tied less to age and more to the changing nature of social media itself. As our feeds are taken over by influencers trying to outdo each other for our limited bandwidth, the posts we see are increasingly curated, leaving no space for the mundane updates that once defined social media. Entrepreneur Rahul Jain (54) feels that the euphoria of posting everything online is over now. “Nobody posts anything on social media. When we attend a party, my friends ask me not to tag them. Nobody wants their friends or followers to know what they are doing 24*7. People have finally realised that enough is enough. When I discuss this with my friends, they also feel that the medium has become more about marketing than building on relationships.”

There was a time when I’d post constantly, and wait for likes and comments. I’ve come from a lovely vacay in July, but I’ve not posted anything

Ritu Joll, a Press & Communications Officer

‘I don’t need the validation anymore’
For many, what once felt like fun or even necessary now feels draining. “When I was young I maybe needed validation from people on my social media. As you age, you realise that it is too draining. I remember I’d post a selfie every day. There was no need to post it, I’d just do it – from work, from the gym, from my dining table, from a theatre, from a drive. There was this constant need to update my followers about our activities and everyone around me was also doing it. The posting is on declining curve – it is rare to see my friends posting an update about their lives now. I think the last time I posted something was a year ago,” says 35-year-old ad-hoc professor Shreya Singh from Bengaluru.

The design of social media has discouraged casual posting, with metrics that make users feel inadequate for not getting enough attention, and with algorithmic feeds that prioritise popular accounts that post constantly – not mundane moments but punditry, provocation, and self-promotion

Cultural critic Kyle Chayka in his essay Are You Experiencing Posting Ennui? for The New Yorker

‘Privacy has been a concern’
“There was a time when I’d constantly post things and wait for likes and comments. I was constantly seeking unnecessary validation. I’ve come from a lovely vacation in July, but I’ve not posted anything from that holiday. I might change my profile picture, but that’s it. The last few years we have also seen how privacy has been a concern on these apps. You are under constant surveillance, and when I am posting (about) my family, I am concerned about their privacy,” says Ritu Joll, a Press & Communications Officer.

‘We’re just consuming content instead of sharing anything’
One unwanted gift of social media is the constant feeling of not being good enough – our vacations don’t seem cool enough, our jobs not fun enough, our wardrobes not glam enough compared to the curated lives we see online. The less you post, the less ammunition others have to scrutinise your life. Parvin Kumar, Head Marketing, Pan IIT Alumni India, shares, “I’m not into posting on social media anymore; the last I posted was a year back. If someone posts a picture from Maldives or Bali or wherever, you start thinking, ‘Oh, they are on a holiday while I am working here.’ You don’t know their circumstances, but you are making comparisons. Many have shifted to WhatsApp to post an update. There also, people hide it from those who they don’t want to see their pictures. So, it is not like people are not active on social media. We all are but it is more about consuming content than sharing,” says Parvin.

Some still enjoy sharing
Not everyone feels the same fatigue. Some feel social media is still buzzing, especially on newer platforms. Upasana Mahtani, who is in the influencer marketing space, shares that while Facebook posting has gone down, Instagram is still lively. “There is still a lot of interaction there. People have moved to WhatsApp as well. But I don’t think people have stopped posting completely.” Ashima Chauhan (27), who works with an NGO, agrees. “I post whatever I like. It can be a flower, a dog, my food or just my photo. I am not posting for any likes. Even if they have no likes, I will still post.”


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