Overexposed (Holly Schindler)

It feels sometimes like we're all a little overexposed, thanks to social media. I'm sure this seemed more so to people of my generation who didn't grow up with an online life. When I was in college, I actually knew a guy who didn't have a phone. Now, this was the mid-'90s, so when I say he didn't have a phone, I'm not just talking a cell phone. None of us had cell phones. This guy didn't have a phone in his apartment. If you wanted to talk to him, you had to track him down on campus. 

Nobody really thought much about it. That's how much the world has changed in my lifetime. 

The funny thing about an overexposed image is that you kill a lot of the dark contrast, so the whole thing looks a little blurry. Or maybe more like the details get washed out. 

Sometimes, that's the way a lot of online life feels. Like you only show the best of everything. The finished manuscripts. The signed contracts. The challenges won. 

But if you don't show the darker stuff--the struggle to finish the manuscript, the rejection, the challenges lost--then you don't really get the clearest picture of a life. 

My favorite posts? The filter-less headshots. The wrinkles and the grays. The crooked picture on the wall in the background. The laundry piled on the bed. 

I like messy drawers and doors scratched by dog toenails. I like jackets tossed on banisters. I like muddy shoes in the kitchen. 

I like the full picture. The darks mixed in with the lights. 

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Holly Schindler is the author of the MG The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky