Nowadays more and more people are getting addicted to social media. Traditional forms of self expression that we used as children are gone. There was no judgment from our environment, we could create without limits or – as now – filters. Using Facebook/Twitter/Instagram is in most cases looking for approval. We wait for likes, shares, retweets, followers etc. What would happen if social media were just a social sharing platform? Would it still work if it wasn’t based on validation in views/followers/likes? What is more, while using social media we are getting addicted to our cellphones and most of us cannot imagine their lives without it.
A good example of social media madness and escaping from it is a former Instagram model – Essena O’Neill – who revealed the truth behind the photos by editing her posts. She had about 580,000 followers. She was making money looking good in nice sceneries. She was also famous on YouTube and Snapchat. One day something broke in her. She was miserable, angry, uninspired. She found out that creating a celebrity construct of herself, wasn’t what she wanted in her life and she decided to show how social media and advertising in social media works. For example she was wearing clothes that she was paid to wear. Her little sister had to take around 200 photos to choose the one that looks good enough to share it in social media (in this case Instagram). Basically things posted in social media are fake and don’t show real life. The question is: is it still a real version of us in social media? Try to log out to reality, spend time with your friends in off-line environment.
That is true and that is why kids should not have accounts on social media. Older people, well, I think this is such a hot topic that the majority knows how social media work and do not take them seriously in 100%.
I feel that I read post that was written by truly american person. I think that you globalising too much. Obviously, Poland has plenty of celebrities that working/relaxing/communicate like that. But in overall people still communicate in real terms. Personally I think that for european people using of SM is more about quick communication with people who are far away. While in US is already declining trend and companies need to create something new that more interact users like Periscope.
I agree that kids should not have account on social media , there was case of young kid who support terrorism attacks, – he get prison sentence
Nowadays jobs recruiters look on what u post and share on SM.
Yes I read somewhere that taking ‘selfies’ is a sign of narcissism, psychopathy- impulsivity and lack of empathy, machiavellianism – manipulating others with very little consideration of others’ feelings and self objectification. Well I totally agree with you. Excessive social media usage is only going to increase self gratification and insecurity in us. What’s more, these qualities are the pillars for the social media website model. I might sound cynical but to a large extent it’s true! We begin to conform a lot more to the social standards and give very little thought of what we are succumbing to. It’s quite pathetic. Just writing this makes me feel like deleting my social media accounts to be honest 🙂