I posted a photo to my feed. A couple of likes, a couple of curt comments and the feeling that nobody had really noticed. And then - the same photo on my story. Suddenly - dozens of views, old acquaintances, ex-lovers, women from work who barely say hello to me on the street... all of them there, present but invisible.
I realized that today the feed means acknowledgment. A like is a little signature, a confirmation: "I'm here, and everyone can see that I follow you." A story, on the other hand, offers the perfect alibi. You can watch, observe, be a voyeur - without leaving anything behind. No trace, no commitment, no courage.
And then I realized something else - visibility and support are not the same thing. People will see you, they'll watch your every move, every post, every change. But support you? Now that's a luxury. Support takes the courage to step forward, to take a stand, to admit that someone matters to you. And that is exactly what most people avoid.
Maybe that's the new philosophy of our time - everyone wants to watch, but nobody wants to get caught. As if we've collectively become voyeurs of other people's lives, but without being willing to stand behind what we watch.
Because a like today isn't just a click. A like is a message. A like is a public acknowledgment. And that's why people ration it, hide it, withhold it. While a story view is safe, quiet, invisible. You can know everything about someone without them ever knowing you were there.
And as I looked over the list of people who had watched but never "liked," I wondered: have likes become the most expensive currency of our time? And more importantly - is our biggest problem that everyone sees us, but hardly anyone truly supports us?