I went to NightGlow last Friday, and I had a ton of fun dancing with my friends and making shirts and what not.

But.

It got me to thinking. I don’t need to be at every school event, every party or every get together.

Even if I do attend an event, I should have no need to prove that I was there.

In our generation, it is the absolute most important thing when going anywhere to take at least 20 pictures showing where you were and who you were with and what a fabulous time you were having while there.

Not every event we attend is so urgent or important that we need those 20 pictures.

Is it really necessary for the whole population to know how much fun I had? No. Only I need to know that. I live in the moment.

Granted, parties and mixers are a lot of fun, and it’s good to capture memories, but it’s not the end of the world if I forget to take one photo.

I know so many people in our school that can’t stand to miss a single football game or house party.

We are not celebrities. Our lives are not public 24/7, but it’s almost like we, the teenage population try to create the illusion that our social activity is equivalent to that of Vanessa Hudgens’. What’s the bigger picture behind that?

Not everything I do is relevant to everyone else’s lives. I don’t need to prove to people who I was with or what we were doing. I don’t need to prove that I was having a great time.

Yet the majority of our youth feel differently.

My only task is to live and take in the moment.

Half of the time, I go out somewhere (let’s say a party) and end up going home an hour later because I’d be having more fun at home, sitting in my pj’s, listening to music and writing a blurb on Tumblr.

For example: Sunday, instead of hanging out with friends somewhere, I stayed home and went on an hour-long photo shoot taking pictures of the snow-covered trees and fields.

I had a blast, and I was completely alone.

Now that’s somewhat of a bad example because I was taking pictures the entire time, but keep in mind that I only posted two pictures out of 50 on Instagram.

And I posted them because I was proud of my artwork. Not to somehow show the world that I was happy or what I was doing. 

Being at every block party or every basketball game doesn’t matter and neither should the documentation. We all know that those things are fun, social events.

Enjoy the moment, not the Facebook posts (if anyone still uses Facebook).

Laugh about when your friend tripped up the bleachers at the basketball game. Remember all of the different music played at NightGlow.

Live in the moment instead of documenting it.