Blog Post #2 - Alexandra Remmling
Social media has such an influential impact on our lives and it seems as the years are going on people are beginning to use social media at younger ages. This week we watched the movie Eighth Grade and I remember growing up getting a phone and starting to use Snapchat and Instagram in the eighth grade but not to the same extent that children are using it now. Nowadays, we are glued to our phones and so much of our lives are shared on social media. As seen through the movie, these apps can sometimes cause more harm than good as people get so consumed by what they see online when that isn’t always reality. Through social media people are able to show their best selves which is often just snippets of their lives. Many times people and in particular teenagers will compare themselves to others through social media and if they don’t feel that they are like everyone else this can lead them to having low self sleep and confidence issues. Social media can do great things like connecting people by sharing our lives however, it’s important for people to remember that social media is just a snippet of a person's life and does not often show the full picture.
Hi Alexandra,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your point of how social media posts are very unrealistic of a persons actual life. I see this all the time on Instagram of people only posting their fun experiences such as traveling and parties and its hard not to compare. Although we have to remind ourselves that its just a snippet and that person is not constantly traveling the world and going out for brunch. This could be difficult however to someone in the eight grade and can really affect their self esteem.
Hi Alexandra. Great post! I has a similar experience with social media growing up, although I joined at a (somewhat) young age, I don't think social media had as large of a hold on me in my younger years. Unlike Kayla in Eighth Grade, I wasn't glued to my phone nor did I really understand how I could use social media to construct my identity. I think this was a good thing because I was able to construct my social identity outside of my social media use. Now, I can see how fake everything on social media is because of how I've matured, but I imagine if I was 12-13 years old today, social media would have a detrimental impact on my development.
ReplyDeleteHi Alexandra. I enjoyed reading your post! Social Media has begun to consume the lives of young tweens. People can portray themselves as anyone they want to be on social media, which can create a false consciousness, avoiding their day to day life by consuming online content. However, like you said, social media can be harmful. People can hide themselves behind a phone and spread hate with just a few taps on the keyboard. The other day when I was on public transportation, I saw a young child using their mothers phone. It seems to me that parents now use phones as a way of distracting their child in order to provide themselves with some free time. This can negatively impact a child's perception of the world, potentially viewing social media as an escape. Overall, I agree with you that kids are using social media at a much younger age now, and this can definitely negatively impact them.
ReplyDeleteHi Alexandra, I completely agree with your post. Social media falsely leads people to believe that others' lives are perfect when their reality might not actually reflect the lifestyle they portray online. From a young age, we have always been encouraged not to buy into the things we see on social media too much because they are only a fraction of the truth. Admittedly, I often brushed this off. However, I am now old enough to appreciate the truth of this advice because the reality is that only the perfect photos, moments, events, occasions, and others of the sort are shared on social media. Social media has unfortunately completely lost its authenticity, if it ever had any. This can be harmful to young people's understanding of the world and may lead them to believe that their lives are inferior to their peers'.
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