While social media has brought with it many evils, its greatest distraction must surely be how aware it has made young people of their material worth.
I imagine that one day in the distant future, perplexed social scientists will wonder at how obsessed we were with what strangers thought of us.
An example of this was a story I read recently about how young people going to exclusive clubs are now renting expensive bottles of booze, just so they can show it off.
Yes, I said renting!
They pay a fraction of the price to have the bottles on their tables for people to see and admire. But more importantly, they make sure to snap dozens of pictures of themselves with said bottles in the background and post it on social media.
Of course there’s one dedicated individual whose job it is to guard the bottles to make sure it doesn’t get snatched or opened by someone eager to pour a dop.
To be honest, if I ever saw a staged parade like that, I’m the guy who would open a few of those bottles, just to see the look on the host’s face.
Those bottles can cost thousands of rands, so I can just imagine how anxious you must be, if you’re the one responsible for looking after them.
It sounds like a lot of work simply to get a few social media likes.
As that old saying goes: “Buying things you don’t need, with money you don’t have, to impress people you don’t know, or like.”
And as if renting booze isn’t enough of an indictment on our chronic narcissism, I now understand that women fear for their weaves and wigs.
There have been documented incidents of women having their weaves or wigs ripped off their heads in broad daylight.
At first it sounds crazy, until you realise how expensive the high-end weaves actually are.
What is one to do when there’s all that pressure to stay on top of things all the time?
I wonder what is next?!
It’s part of the curse of being an active member of the Instagram generation; where addicts are constantly chasing likes from new followers, who need to see how #Blessed you are to be “living your best life”; even if it means staging yourself getting out of a display Ferrari, on a sponsored holiday, with a rented bottle of French champagne in one hand, while the other holds down a stolen wig.