You don’t need to share everything online… here’s why… (AUG, 2025)

The Prophets of scripture didn’t need sunglasses with a keyhole camera, or a GoPro attached to their head, to know that mountains would move for them.

The prophets of scripture didn’t need a pretty feed, the approval of a million followers, or have their “wins” set in stone in the form of highlights and reels, or be the sum of a swanky networking event in Bali, for the divine laws to work in their favour.

We live in a time now where the noise of the world compels us to share every micro moment of our lives. We are expected to use social media as a way to share the good deeds, the small wins, the goals, the dreams, the progress, and our best selves, to feel like we’re moving up in the world.

We’re constantly told that “if you don’t take a photo, it didn’t exist” and a scroll through social media today shows prayers, workouts, and sacred moments (such as yoga, wind-down routines and experiential trips) now being reduced to the ephemeral entertainment and ‘doom-scrolling’ of many.

Reading the stories of old, and the biographies of the greats that came before us, reminds us that the blessings that happened in these individual’s lives didn’t require public petition - and that the constant sharing of moments online can quietly strip away the richness of living them.

It’s also the modern-day cattle-market.

Men and women step forward to play their best cards: the most flattering photos, the sharpest opinions, the thirst traps, the wittiest captions, the well-curated proof of a desirable life.

We showcase what we hope will fetch the highest bid of attention, approval, or opportunity. Yet the imperfect, the unfinished, the quietly beautiful moments that happen in the shadows rarely make the table.

With anything, there is always a trade-off. And with social-media, yes, you may “miss out” on certain opportunities - people won’t always know what you’re doing - but a simple reframing shows us that, in doing so, it filters out the noise. It chaffs away the weeds. It keeps the wrong people out, and the right people in.

In the book of Matthew, Jesus is recorded as saying:

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1)

And in another passage:

“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others… But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen… And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” (Matthew 6:5–7)

Those who witnessed these remarkable individuals achieve extraordinary feats weren’t always nations, but small circles - and in many cases, just a still, small voice within them - present from the very beginning, in the incubation of the earliest prayers, and through the trials and tribulations.

It was a silent worker who was working away in the periphery, preparing the path -through the good days and the bad.

In a time now where we are encouraged to share every dose of our lives, there is something beautiful, something sacred, about keeping things private.

Kamal Farrah