Gen Z share photos they 'hesitate to post today' vs what they posted before in hilarious TikTok trend

How we interact and express ourselves on social media has changed over the years, and a new TikTok trend hilariously demonstrates this shift in behaviour.

We were more carefree about what we posted compared to today in the early days of social media. Now, everyone is more performative in their online presence as we tend to curate content to give off a certain vibe to our followers, with the ultimate fear of being cringeworthy.

Recently, people on TikTok are sharing the photos they were hesitant to share today, compared to the photos they used to post in years gone by.

As part of the trend, creators tend to use songs 'Every Breath You Take' by The Police, and here are some of the most viral examples.

TikToker @el1festyle shared two snaps of himself, one from today where he's posing on a swing while on the phone, compared to a photo he shared "without hesitation in 2014" where he took a photo with a dinosaur lego figure and is pulling a face.

The slideshow has over 23.4 million views, 5.6 million likes, and comments from users who were entertained by the stark contrast.

TikTok/el1festyle

One person posted: "OKAY BUT WHO MADE THAT DESIGN."

"THE FACIAL EXPRESSION," a second person said.

A third person wrote: "Real question is why did they make the Lego like that."

"You posted it without hesitation again too," a fourth person commented.

Another example came from TikToker @rachhhh80, who "hesitated to post" a photo of herself recently posing near a body of water and then shared how she "had no problem posting in 2012" and edit of her younger self being embraced by Zac Efron in his 2012 film post for The Lucky One.

Since sharing the post has over 1.7 million views, 187,000 likes and people sharing their thoughts in the comments.

TikTok/ rachhhh80

One person wrote: "Oh girl I’d take this to the grave."

"You should never be ashamed of posting you and your partner lol," a second person joked.

A third person commented: "You couldn’t water board this out of my omg."

"Haters will say it’s photoshopped," a fourth person replied.

A third instance from the trend was shared by TikTok creator @rkdplc, who shared a smiling selfie that she "hesitated to post today" and then show a number of selfies she took when she was young which she "posted without hesitation" in 2013.

TikTok/rkdplc

The slideshow now has 768,000 views, 105,000 likes, as people in the comments reflected on how our relationship with social media has changed over the years.

"Just goes to show how we eventually lost that confidence. The world had been cruel through the years," one person wrote.

A second person said: "Those were the times we were free."

"Because back then social media was for fun..now its the main entertainment for lots of people and people spend more time on their phone, thus getting lots of viewers including their judgement too," a third person replied.

A fourth person commented: "We be posting anything back then."

Elsewhere, 'I'm so hungry I could eat...' TikTok trend explained, and why is everyone commenting ‘Zahide won this trend’ on TikTok?

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