Private stagnation or decline, not to mention admitting to it, would recommend failure – and self-congratulation is much extra palatable than perceived self-pity on social media. The latter could immediate feedback to the impact of “issues will work out”, a platitude that solely serves to ease the commenter’s discomfort as anybody who has shared their struggles is aware of.
Too many posts thus really feel extra like a spotlight reel than real self-reflection, albeit utilizing introspective language to get social validation for one’s successes.
For instance, if the put up have been about overcoming insecurity, it’d learn: “I met my youthful self for espresso. She was late, as a result of she’d been paralysed by ideas of the right way to impress me. I informed her that she now not craves exterior validation, not when she turns into the primary individual to be nation head of her firm earlier than turning 30.” (Not an actual put up, however you get my level.)
The top outcome, whereas presumably unintended, comes throughout as a humblebrag.
THE PROBLEM WITH REDEMPTION ARC NARRATIVES
This tone isn’t distinctive to the pattern. It echoes the late bloomer narrative, a everlasting and predictable fixture within the social media information cycle across the time that the outcomes of a nationwide examination are launched.
You know the way that goes: Completed adults share their poor Main College Leaving Examination (PSLE), O Degree or A Degree scores, highlighting these grades don’t matter as a result of they’ve now achieved a societally-lauded model of success.
The well-intentioned narrative goals to assist those that really feel like a failure to know this era of battle will go. However the issue arises when it mockingly reinforces the necessity to hit conventional benchmarks of success.
In different phrases, self-reflection on setbacks solely appears value sharing in hindsight – if these struggles finally result in typical success or might be reframed as algorithm-friendly private progress.
