4 Ways Wedding #Hashtags Are Making Us Run From The Altar
They say "winter is coming," but when you're in your mid-20s, it's more like "wedding season is coming."
Left and right, someone you know, or someone your significant other knows, is getting engaged and married.
The epidemic is sweeping this generation, and we have technology to thank for putting it in our faces.
I was on Instagram the other day, and I saw someone asking for advice on what their wedding hashtag should be.
In that moment, the act of getting married was truly violated.
We've become a generation possessed by our quest of making our weddings as trendy as possible, and they're all accessible through social media to those who weren't lucky enough to be invited.
Technology has corroded what marriage is supposed to be, and here are some reasons why:
1. Humble Brag
The wedding hashtag is the ultimate form of humble bragging.
People post their engagement photos, their engagement party photos, their engagement party invitation photos, and on and on and on. It's never-ending.
The hashtags, while elaborate and generally humorous, are used to brag to all the couple's single friends, or even their friends who didn't have nice affairs.
The wedding hashtag is a stamp on the entire engagement and wedding, one meant to establish a precedent for all friends' future weddings.
It's setting the standard that eventually may be hard to beat.
2. Privacy
The rise of the wedding hashtag has taken away any and all privacy meant for the happy couple.
The wedding hashtag, while created as a means to share moments with others, has become an obligatory engagement aspect.
Generations passed didn't have the technology and visibility that we have today. To think that they had to wait for photos to develop, and then wait for people to come to their house to see photos, also takes away the aspect of privacy.
Technology has made special moments easily accessible, even for those we think we are shielding our stuff from. Have you ever heard of something called a screen shot? I know I get plenty of them and send plenty.
The wedding hashtag has corrupted the sanctity of privacy between a couple and their family.
3. Living Beyond Our Means
I see young couples spending elaborate amounts of money on their engagements and affairs all for the sake of documenting it.
Yes, many families do contribute to the wedding, but at the same time, there are many who have to rely on themselves to fund their dream engagement and wedding.
The rise of the wedding hashtag has resulted in people crowd-funding their affairs, their honeymoons and beyond. What happened to just a simple wedding registry?
We're a generation who wants more, but instead of focusing on the non-materialistic things, we're asking our friends to pitch in for our elaborate affairs and celebrations because we want to live above our means.
Most college students are still in debt, yet they find the need to be frivolous with their engagements.
4. Unrealistic Expectations
The wedding hashtag phenomenon has fueled Millennials' desires to live out their dream weddings, dream engagements and all the other important aspects of the process.
When people post on social media and use their wedding hashtag, they're creating envy and jealousy among their friends, peers and enemies.
What's even more concerning, they're also causing others to have unrealistic expectations for their own affairs.
The wedding hashtag corrupts the minds of 20-somethings because it exposes their fears, worries and concerns about their own future nuptials.
It plants seeds of doubt, discomfort and uncertainty, and it is plaguing relationships everywhere.
