Every day I find a video or wordy post on social media that details someone’s—usually the poster themselve’s—efforts to help another individual.  Likes and shares seem to fuel the general populace’s desire for attention, and this has some people jumping at every opportunity to perform a good deed so that they might showcase it to the world as a kind of internet badge of honor. 

I’m aware that there is a clear argument against my stance here: what does it matter the motive behind an act, as long as something good is being done? I respond by saying although motive may not be the most important thing in an act of kindness, impure motive can still harm the effectiveness of an otherwise generous act.

I firmly believe that sharing one’s own acts of kindness takes away some of the good an act might do. Helping others is something that should ideally be done automatically—with complete disregard for the potential rewards or attention that might come after. If either of those is received, fantastic, but people should not be fishing for this kind of attention. Bragging about a good deed undermines it, and can make the beneficiary of the good deed seem like an object, or a means to praise for the doer of the deed. 

Big Think quotes a study that sheds an interesting light on the affect of rewards in charity acts: “Researchers concluded giving donors money in events like blood drives actually negatively affected their experience. 

Because the free donors were motivated by altruism, not a reward, the experience was ruined when they received the reward.” Being offered money for a good deed cheapens the deed itself, making it seem like a good economic decision rather than an act of kindness. 

There are other ways impure motives can harm the individuals benefiting from the good deeds as well. Christina Ashworth, a contributor to The Odyssey, states, “…posting about good deeds and volunteer work can sometimes violate the rights of those who receive the aid. 

Some organizations I have worked with in the past have actually had to create policies forbidding posting pictures of the individuals on social media because people could be embarrassed or put in danger of being found by a former abuser, stalker, or someone else from the past they’re trying so hard to avoid.” Imagine others taking pictures of you during times of duress and posting about their efforts to make your life better… that is definitely not something I would want. 

It is too easy to look at acts of kindness as things to pad your resume. Acts of kindess should really be satisfying in and of themselves. Social media leads us to see those being helped as objects rather human beings, which defeats the point of helping them out. 

It certainly makes sense to want others to know that you are a good person, and I am not saying sharing self-brags makes you bad. Social media has completely changed the world, including the world of charity. 

If you talk about everything else on the internet, it makes sense that you would want to talk about your good deeds too. However, it is important to look at how you go about it: share posts that provide others ways to give to good causes, and respect those that you are working to help.