#AfterSex

 Editorial of Free

Hashtags are a pretty cool way to create trends. During Avurudu time the hashtag #ReplaceMovieTitlesWithKavum was trending and it resulted in many funny tweets and status updates. Recently, a new hashtag emerged from the dark depths of social networking. This hashtag wasn’t funny. It wasn’t cute. It was disturbing.

The #AfterSex hashtag made couples around the globe post pictures of themselves just after making love. The pictures gave everyone a look into the private lives of others. Some were of the shoulder-up but clearly topless couple and the hashtag was the only indicator of what they had just done. Other images, however, showed more skin than many of us wanted to see. While there may have been enough people searching for the hashtag #AfterSex, many of us were innocent victims to the content on our home pages.

Here’s why the hashtag seemed like a bad idea to many. There are things that you can share on your online accounts. The content is safe. It helps people get to know you. We worry about an embarrassing post we made when we were depressed, heartbroken or not thinking straight. We worry that we have posted private information online. We worry that people will now know things they shouldn’t know about us.

While we worry about all these things, there are people who actually posted pictures of them just after making love. The pictures, many believe, opened the door to the private lives of others. It made one question how far people would go with absurd and too-much-information posts. And for what? A few likes? To follow a trend? To have more followers?

A friend commented on the hashtag trend saying, the next thing you know people will be making love on the streets. Have we actually come to that level?

We often like to think that all these trends and hashtags are followed in all countries but Sri Lanka. However, there were Sri Lankans who also took part in the #AfterSex trend. This shows that we can no longer feel confident that Sri Lankan youth is not stupid enough to follow every trend created. After all, Crocs did make their way to Sri Lankan feet. We no longer live in a protected world; a country where terrible trends don’t thrive.

Some believed the hashtag was a breaking down of social boundaries. It was a way for the youth to say they don’t consider sex, premarital sex or casual sex a taboo. However, do you want to be rebellious by putting up pictures the world shouldn’t see? What happens when your #AfterSex picture goes viral, you are bullied, teased and insulted? What happens when your lover leaves you and that picture you put up keeps coming back to haunt you?

Think twice before posting online. It might be cool to follow a trend. However, know that there is a thing called too much information. And what is

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