Is 'Sharing' Truly Caring?

‘Share and share alike’ is a well known phrase which suggest that everyone involved should receive an equal portion of whatever is being shared. This is a principle based on fair and equal distribution, often used to encourage people to continue to share willingly. Another popular phrase is ‘Sharing is caring’ and both of these expressions denote how these are intentional acts of goodwill offered by individuals who are thoughtful considerate, and kind.

With the mass media playing such a dominant part of most of our lives, never before have we been so encouraged, coaxed, cajoled, and even pressured into sharing. Whatever form of media we choose to interact with, whether social, broadcast, digital, or print, we are offered multiple opportunities to share, both ours and indeed other peoples content and information online, over and over again. It is almost impossible to list what is not now being shared online, because we are offering so much of our identity and who we are. We are sharing and laying bare untold amounts of information about both ourselves and others, to the point that there is very little left which is held sacred. Everyone has a choice whether or not to share their own images, videos, and information, yet many people are regularly doing so without the forethought of the damaging effect this can actually have on both their life, and also the life of those close to them.

Our world has become so misguided by the meaning of sharing. Society has bred and continues to breed a generation of people across every demographic who feel that choosing not to share details of themselves on line is actually unnatural, and even unacceptable. There is a fear of being labelled weird, strange, or even a ‘misfit’ if they do not participate in regular content sharing of their activities and their life, with the possible punishment of social exclusion as the result. People are even choosing to fabricate their own lives in attempts to portray what they believe to be a more ‘favourable’ representation of who they truly are, with a hunger to receive more attention, along with a possible boost in more likes and shares. Yet, this is a behaviour which is not carried out with just the hope of receiving monetary gain, popularity, or more exposure. A vast amount of individuals are now sharing themselves and their personal and private information, in the underlying hope that someone may genuinely care.

There seems to be a much more stark reason why people feel the need to go to great lengths to offer their content in such an unguarded, unprotected, and often extremely compromising way. There may be a silent and subconscious desire for any insecurities which an individual may have, to somehow be erased through the act of online sharing. They are placing far too much importance, urgency, belief, and even trust in the idea that ‘sharing is caring’ because they have a great need to feel cared for. Individuals are feeling less and less cared about by the people in their life. Their needs, hopes, and desires are not being met within their circle of family and friends authentically, which is showing up as the underlying cause behind their search for recognition and validation externally.

People are now stuck in this never-ending cycle of over-sharing with a faceless and impersonal online world, as a replacement for the dissatisfaction and lack they feel within their own world. Continuously sharing information and content with complete strangers can be seen as a need for a sense of acceptance and belonging. This is a sign that many individuals feel they do not have immediate access to someone in their life who is either able or indeed willing, to physically show them the care they are missing. Their ongoing need to share can be interpreted as an indirect search for confirmation and acceptance from absolutely anyone, that they are likeable, they are relevant, and above all, that they matter. Every human being has the innate need and desire to feel that they are cared for, and that they matter. The constant endeavour to share in the hope of receiving - albeit from absolute strangers who quite possibly do not care for their welfare, and with who they have no real connection - shows how many people feel that the only way they can boost their self-esteem and self-worth is through sharing their soul online.

Choosing to share so much of ourselves in this manner is not the antidote for a lack of self-acceptance. All that this behaviour will achieve is over-exposure to the media, with emotional and mental frustration and fatigue. And in extreme cases the realisation that this misinformation of how sharing to receive is a normal, acceptable, and ultimately healthy activity in which to participate to gain societal acceptance, can sadly lead to disorders such as social anxiety and even depression. True sharing is an act of selflessness where we mindfully share ourselves freely. However, this can only be achieved from a prefilled place of selfulness. This is a healthy and mindful place where we are fully self-aware and self-accepting of ourselves, with no prior expectations or attachments of reciprocation required from anyone else.

Sharing information and content regarding business, education, health, and anything which can assist us in gaining positive and productive progression and improvements in our lives is always highly favourable, and indeed necessary for our world. However, when it comes to the sharing of information of ourselves and other people which can be used to cause upset, harm, and even endanger others, we must be much more discerning and mindful. As harrowing as all this is, not everyone we share with online will have bad intentions towards us. Thankfully there are more people who genuinely wish to connect and share for good and healthy reasons, than those who do not. And it is these upfront and honest individuals, businesses, and institutions which we must take our time to seek and share our energy and resources with.

We are leaving ourselves completely open and exposed, both with and without our consent. Individuals and businesses are continuously sharing our public and available content and information, as well as our private and unavailable or ‘hacked’ content and information, and we are also receiving content which is being recycled time and again without careful vetting of it’s legitimacy or authenticity. With the unlimited tools introduced with the rise of AI this means that through our act of ‘sharing’ what we are both offering and receiving may have actually been edited, reworked, manipulated and tampered with in many ways, either partially or completely.

When we share our content through whichever media and in whichever manner we choose, we have absolutely no idea where it will end up. There are individuals who will take every opportunity to use our content - whether personal or professional - for their own gain. They will wilfully edit, copy, and manipulate our content through sharing, and even aim to use it against us for their own underhanded reasons. Some people will even go as far to steal and plaigarise our content and pass it off as their own, in an attempt to either gain popularity or benefit financially. This is why it is imperative now more than ever before, to protect all of your content and your intellectual property with visible watermarks and logs for protection. Content creators, businesses, and consumers worldwide are slowly waking up to the fact that copyright laws are being ignored, by criminals and scammers with no regard for either these laws, or the damage they are doing to individuals.

Is sharing truly caring? In the correct hands and with the correct people the answer is ‘Yes’ but only if we take the time to gain the knowledge, insight, education and know-how necessary, to make more informed decisions. The thought of sharing ourselves online needs to be taken more seriously, and adopted into the lives of those who are reaching outside in the hope of receiving any type of care. We must all stop giving so much of ourselves away in the pursuit of gaining authentic attention and care, because too much of what is actually being received is inauthentic care disguised as genuine care, from an inauthentic carer. We should hold back the amount of emotional power we are choosing to offer freely, to those who care less for our welfare and more about their own visibility, popularity and financial gain. Instead we need to apply this energy and effort to our own self-care, as these false media methods of care could not be any further from genuine efforts and intentions of ‘sharing is caring’ or ‘share and share alike’.

The time, energy and commitment which is being given to receive some small fraction of acceptance, validation, or virtual hug from a monetised media machine, must be greatly scaled back and focused inwards. We must focus on the reasons behind why we feel unable as individuals to pour our energy into ourselves, and truthfully share our innermost feelings, thoughts and desires internally with our heart, mind, and spirit. Now is the time to be intentionally choosy with whom and what we share ourselves and our information with. And we can start doing so right now, with those people in our life who may not often show it, but who we know truly cares for us. But we can only do so when we start by caring for ourselves first and foremost.

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