Blog Post #3 - Kayla and the affects of technological determinism - Max Merovitz

The movie Eight Grade which we watched in previous classes is a film following the life of an eight grade girl named Kayla. Kayla wants to fit in with who society deems as ‘the cool group’ and attempts to go out of her comfort zone to do so. This film was able to display what teenagers go through both on social media and at school in order to fit in. This includes, anxiety, bullying, pear pressure and more. Kayla being a teenager in todays world, falls into the digital world of social media and the harm it can cause. She fails to understand hit not everything one sees online is true and that most of the time images are altered and these experiences people are sharing are not true and accurate. In order to attempt to fit in, Kayla films YouTube videos talking about outfits, her daily life and trends she feels like will ‘make her popular’ and allow her to ‘fit in’. Although, it is obvious that these videos make Kayla extremely awkward and uncomfortable and that she does not truly enjoy what she is doing. Technology determinist can be explained as an outside force that creates change through influence and persuasion. Due to social media creating trends on many platforms, teens fall into a dark world of catch up and feel like they need to change in order to fit in, which is exactly what happened to Kayla. Children need to stop feeling like they must change in order to fit societal norms surrounding appearance as this causes depression and anxiety within our younger generations. Social media was created as a fun and interactive platform to stay up to date with friends although has quickly turned into a popularity contest.   

Comments

  1. PoojaOctober 20, 2022 at 12:30 PM

    Hi,

    Great discussion on the way Technological Determinism affects Kayla in the film. You made a great point about the bullying and pressure that Kayla faces every day. It is essential to recognize that most of these issues stem from social media and the ideas that make young impressionable teens believe they need to do, look like and act like.

    Has there ever been a time when you felt like you needed to be like or act a certain way because of social media?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Max MerovitzOctober 27, 2022 at 8:50 AM

      Hey,

      To be completely honest, not really. Although I do scroll through Tik Tok a lot, i do not use snapchat and try my hardest to not fixate myself to the world of instagram. Although when i was younger i did sometimes feel like i need certain shoes or clothes to fit in, I was never the type of kid to change because of social media.

      Delete
  2. Erika PerliniOctober 23, 2022 at 7:58 PM

    Hey,
    Great post! I agree with your point how you mention that technological determinism has changed the way social media is used through influence and persuasion. This is especially true for teens on instagram for example as they can follow so many of their favourite icons, influencers and athletes. This adds pressure however, that they need to look, be and act a certain way as that's what is considered "popular" on social media.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CS371 Blog Post #1 - TikTok Icebreaker - By Sarah Humphreys

Image
CS371 Blog Icebreaker (TikTok) - By Sarah Humphreys Hello! My name is Sarah Humphreys, and I am a third year Communication Studies student, with a minor in Education and North American Studies. I utilize various social media platforms daily, and my favourite platforms would include, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok. I love these platforms as I can explore an abundance of interests, including fashion trends, healthy lifestyle accounts, and workout routines. The platform I favour the most is TikTok as you can quickly absorb convenient content when time is limited. TikTok produces short and snappy videos, and I find my algorithm to be very accurate in showcasing my interests. A particular TikTok account that I find compelling is @movementwithjulie ( https://www.tiktok.com/@movementwithjulie?lang=en ), this account focuses on showcasing workout routines that target different muscles, and each video is conveniently labelled so you can find the desired workout you are looking for in...
Read more

CS371 Blog Post #3 - Tiffany Chan

In class, we talked about Baym’s four perspectives on the causal relationship between technology and society, which technological determinism is evident in The Guardian's article discussing Facebook’s Awareness of Instagram’s Harmful Effects on Teenage Girls . Technological determinism is when technology plays a principal role in society’s transformation, ultimately having an effect on our everyday lives. Although Instagram was originally intended to share photos and videos with one’s friends and family, it has provided new opportunities for social media influencers and celebrities to post heavily filtered content of themselves and their lives to showcase a glamourized lifestyle. What was once a fun and carefree platform has now become a competition for others to gain popularity based on their looks and lifestyle, breeding toxicity within the platform. With the constant comparison, young individuals, especially teenage girls feel pressured to achieve this ‘perfect’ life, which affe...
Read more

Cs 371 - blog post #1 - Kim Browne

Image
  Hi everyone, my name is Kimberly Browne, and I'm a 3rd-year communications student! I love music and think Spotify stands out from every other music platform. I make many playlists and can find different songs with some of the features that Spotify has. Discovery weekly is a Spotify-generated playlist that releases 30 songs every week based on your music taste. Another feature called "go to radio" plays similar songs to the one you're currently playing, and when I'm making my playlists, the "enhanced" feature adds similar ones to your playlist. I find it funny that there's a constant argument between people choosing the two major streaming platforms, Apple Music, versus Spotify. However, because of these features, being able to see friends' listening activity and the app's clean layout, I switched from Apple Music to Spotify. If you like making playlists and finding new music/genres, consider making Spotify your new music platform!
Read more