Blog Post #2 - Mahaila Milne
In this course we have examined the ways in which
social media affects our day to day lives and the influence and power that it
has over us, which is something that has specifically stood out to me. We
specifically looked at data information showing how popular different social
media platforms are and how popularity changes over time. Social media can take
a serious tole on people's wellbeing and even has the ability to affect the
ways in which people view themselves. Social media causes people to compare
their lives to the lives of others, even though what they are seeing on social
media is a false reality and misrepresentation of the truth and does not
actually depict what an authentic life is like. We specifically discussed the concept of power
as influence in relation to the conceptual matrix of social media, and I think
that this directly relates to the influence that social media has over individuals.
In today’s technological sphere, where people are highly reliant on social
media, we have ultimately given it this power over us, to the point where it
can control our actions and alter our daily lives. Regardless of what social
media platform may be most relevant at the time, these effects are still
visible and altering people’s perceptions of themselves and others. The article titled “Facebook documents
show how toxic Instagram is to teenage girls”, specifically discusses the
negative effects that social media, specifically Instagram, can have on young
people. According to the article, the app has created a culture of posting only
the best pictures and moments and explains how the company’s failure to protect
children on Instagram is downright neglect (Feiner and Bursztynsky, 2021). Social media has changed our
perceptions and realities of the world, and although there are many benefits to
social media, the negative effects of media are creating an unattainable
falsehood, rendering people’s perceptions of self, and altering our cultural
ideologies. People are constantly editing their photos on Instagram and
altering their appearance to the point where they can often look
unrecognizable. This sends a negative message to people, where they may start
to believe that they must fit a certain beauty standard in order to fit in and
feel attractive. This is incredibly damaging and if people compare themselves to
severely edited photos, they will always feel inadequate, ultimately
questioning their self-worth and growing to dislike their own body image.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post and can also agree on how social media platforms such as Instagram can have a negative impact on many individuals mental health. The point you made in regards to power as influence in regards to social media platforms is important to keep in mind. Most individuals are constantly on these platforms and viewing photos that most of the time are altered or staged in some way. Even if the photos do not display ones true reality, this still leaves the viewer to compare themselves. I have been at fault for feeling this way numerous times and through reading some of the articles, it is a sad reality that social media can affect many people.
Hey great post!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, I think people with a large social media presence whether intentional or not, influence the ways in which other social media users view themselves. I say this as people naturally compare themselves to one another especially when it comes to how they look. Through social media people's perceptions of themselves are easily altered to the point where it is difficult to differentiate what's real and what isn't. To me, I see this as problematic, especially amongst the youth as they are growing up in the age of social media so the ways that they view themselves will be affected by this.
Hey, I liked your blog post! I completely agree with everything you mentioned here. Social media is a fun, but also toxic place sometimes. It creates a space where there is a lot of room for judgement, comparison, jealousy, and unrealistic goal-setting. It gives false hope a lot of the time in terms of appearances, and it sets standards for an unsustainable lifestyle because a lot of these things are fabricated on the internet. Lots of people are affected negatively by these types of things such as how "perfect" people look in their photos, how "fun" peoples lives constantly look, and how easy it is to hide behind a keyboard and phone screen and say something disrespectful on anything posted online.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post and completely agree with you on the negative impacts social media has on young individuals’ mental health. Social media is seen as a communication tool that allows users to connect and share information with one another, becoming a powerful way of influencing individuals based on the content that is being shared with them. With the use of editing applications for pictures and videos advancing over the past few years, it has allowed celebrities and influencers to achieve the perfect facial features and body. Young individuals, such as Kayla from, Eighth Grade, constantly compare themselves to these individuals and want to look like them. However, it becomes dangerous when these individuals go through extreme circumstances such as over-dieting and cosmetic procedures to get that perfect look. Furthermore, there are multiple videos on TikTok recently from influencers talking about the real stories behind their Instagram photos, showing their followers that their life is not as perfect as it seems. Why do you think that people only want to show the filtered side of their life?