Beyond the Grid: UD Doc Challenges Digital ID with ‘Share What You Don’t Post’
Photo via Riley Howell
Contributing Writer | Riley Howell
In the curated world of Instagram feeds and highlight reels, what happens to the parts of ourselves that don’t make the cut?
Last Tuesday, 11 senior media production students challenged our campus with a simple prompt: share a part of you that doesn’t show up on your social media.
The event, “Share What You Don’t Post,” was hosted in Kennedy Union to bring awareness to the upcoming short documentary about digital identity. Passersby were encouraged to write their “offline” truths on Post-it Notes and stick them onto a board designed to look like an Instagram post.
For the documentary creators, the event was about more than just generating interest for their film.
“We’re bigger than who we are online,” said Taylor Powell, a senior production manager and writer for the documentary. “You actually have power over who you are, and the forces online don’t control you.”
Powell, who also serves on the project’s marketing team, contributed her own note to the board, expressing her love for painting.
“Art, in general, is kind of vulnerable,” she said, “and I feel like I use painting as an outlet. It’s very vulnerable to me.”
The responses on the board ranged from everyday hobbies to deep personal convictions. Ciara Kelly, a sophomore political science major, said she felt like it was an important moment of expression.
“A lot of people try to hide or be someone else, but it’s an opportunity to share who you really are,” Kelly said. “Everyone has a little bit of an ugly side that they don’t want to show. So I feel like something like this… [is] sharing that with other people.”
For others, what is missing from social media is simply the depth of their real-world connections. Juniors Addie Hastings and Gianna Cathlina, both education majors and members of the student organization Co-Pilots, noted that their vulnerability doesn’t always translate online.
“We shared that we like having genuine, authentic conversations outside of social media,” Hastings said, “no one can really tell that from just our social media pages…We like to welcome the space to be open and talk about those difficult things that are hard to open up about.”
The upcoming documentary, the culmination of a year-long senior capstone course, examines how this “all-consuming digital landscape” impacts mental health and contributes to feelings of isolation. “If we are so connected, then why is there silence?” the team’s synopsis asks.
As the production moves toward its premiere at the end of the spring semester, the team hopes to remind the UD community members that they hold the reins of their own self-image.
“We want to drive the message that Generation Z can take our power back when it comes to facing the forces online,” Powell said, “There’s nothing that replaces human interaction and human support amongst each other.”