Blog Post #3- Kalessy Keyes

The film Eighth Grade, focuses on an eighth grader named Kayla who is going through the difficult task of navigating the transition from eighth grade to high school, in a world where social media plays a forefront role in the lives of the majority of people her age. This relates directly to Nancy Baym's Theoretical perspective of social construction of technology. In the reading titled New forms of personal communication and Making New Media make sense because Baym discusses the diversity seen amongst online communication mediums such as the mobile phones which can be used for a plethora of things ranging in interactivity  levels from voice recording to texting, taking photos and video exchanges (Baym, 7). As well as YouTube Instagram and instant messaging (Baym, 7). She discusses the topic of social interactivity which revolves in how individuals are able to use this medium to interact with one another (Baym, 7). Baym discusses that unlike television, digital media allows you to talk back and interact with (Baym, 7) . The key point she uses to sum up online social media use by states “ People have the power” (Baym, 24).  Baym discusses that when it comes to interactive platforms the power is in the hands of the users because all of these technology platforms are competing for attention therefore the more interactive the platform is the more likely it is for users to spend time on it.  This is evident in the movie Eighth Grade as Kayla is consistently on her phone at all hours of the day. She is constantly texting, posting photos, and senting snapchats.  All these platforms are interactive and are becoming addicting because they constantly send notifications to request her attention.  Kayla uses her social media to define herself and shows how the social construction of technology is used to run people's lives due to the competition between platforms to fight for users' attention.


“Eighth Grade.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 3 Aug. 2018, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7014006/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2022. 

Baym, Nancy. “‘New Forms of Personal Connection’ and ‘Making New Media Make Sense.’” Personal Connections in the Digital Age, pp. 1–30. 


Comments

  1. Zach HattOctober 28, 2022 at 2:06 PM

    Great post! Like Kayla, there was also a time where I felt like i had to be on social media 24/7 and it was very stressful. I was truly addicted until I took a break from social media for a while and learned how to live without it. Now I am very conscious about my time online and a lot healthier mentally. Like you stated, the power is in the user and this is so true because, at the end of the day, it is you on these platforms. Baym really hit this on the head. Kayla also used social media as a platform to express herself which shows that social media platforms are both a good thing and a bad thing. Loved your post!

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