You Don't Need an Audience (she says, to an audience)

For the record, I am, and always have been, very positive on teenagers. I genuinely love them. I have worked with them for fifteen years, and I've never been a "kids today" eye-rolling kind of person.

However, y'all are the worst culprits of what I'm about to moan about. We all do it, but the current batch of 14-25 year olds is the worst for it, and you know who you are!

Basically, there are too many people who think they need an audience all the time. And they don't. You don't. We don't.

I confess that I do love social media. I love the internet. I'm way more addicted to facebook, twitter, and tumblr than I'd ever admit out loud, and I'm not exaggerating too much when I say that YouTube saved my life (long story, maybe another day).

However, I tend to limit my posts these days to memes, holiday photos, and bragging about my kids. Sometimes I'll have a whine about the state of the world, but mostly I'm just in it for the banter. All my actual problems and personal opinions are shared elsewhere - either on the phone with my family, on the sofa with my husband, or in the group chat with my best friends.

Not everyone needs to know everything about me all of the time.

It's like some people don't realise that they can enjoy an experience without filming it for their insta story. They don't know it is in fact possible to do your make up without uploading the time-lapse experience to your vlog. It's unimaginable to just have a nice day out on the beach without spending three hours trying to take the perfect photo. And it's never occured to some that they can be somewhere or participate in an activity without 'checking in' or informing the snapchat crowd to expect "slows".

Another thing that's become culturally accepted at the moment is to spend a lot of our time monologue-ing. Recording voice notes (100% me), talking into cameras for the followers and subscribers, just having so many one-sided conversations that start with "Hi guys! So, today..."

There's no need to wait for a response, just keep banging on into your phone to your unseen audience.

I see a lot of videos on youtube of proposals, surprise reunions, or charitable acts. Some of them, yes, granted, it will be nice to look back on and a lovely memory to keep. But why do we feel we have to share it with all the world? Will that private moment have added value if it goes viral? How long before someone literally livestreams the birth of their child?

The cold truth is that not a lot of people are actually remotely interested in what you're doing. I can't tell you the amount of insta stories I click through at a rate of knots because I just don't care.

So how about saving it for the people that DO care? If you are revealing every single hour to hundreds of people online, what are you keeping back for the special ones in your life?

You know, it is okay to give a homeless person a coffee without filming yourself doing it. You can know inside that you're a good person; you don't need everyone else's applause.

And that's what it all comes down to - applause, approval, validation.

If you were born after the year 1995 then honestly, it's not your fault. It's the world you grew up in, or are still growing up in. Everything needs a like or a rate or a share or it has no merit.

An ex-student of mine once told me that they delete any of their instagram photos that get fewer than thirty likes within an hour. Another told me there is an optimum 'posting window', in which you're guaranteed to get the biggest online attention.

I never wanted to be a moaning, patronising old woman but here we are. I just think more people should try looking at the world through their eyes rather than the lens. Stay in the moment rather than imagining how many likes you'll get once you tell everyone about it on facebook.

I'm not trying to call anyone out. I'm just frustrated.

Again, it's not just young people. Plenty of people my age and above are guilty of all this too, including me at times. Maybe that's why I'm so annoyed lol.

I like looking at people's photos, and I like sharing my friends' lives from afar. It just doesn't need to be constant.

I guess I'm just saying I think we should all stop performing for everyone and just live our lives.

(Now for the love of god tell me how much you love my blog!! ... jk)