Noah Weinstein CS 371 Blog Post #2

 Hi everyone,

In class, we watched the movie “Eighth Grade”, and although it was clearly satirical and sometimes exaggerated, I believe that it contained some elements that we can all relate to. In the movie, Kayla is quite awkward, struggling to find her place socially at school, and overall comes across as being somewhat of a loner. She is very active on social media, whether it be through her own YouTube videos or the many other scenes that we see her using Instagram, Snapchat, and other platforms. It is evident that her social media presence is not reflective of her reality. She tries very hard to appear “cooler” online, for lack of a better word, in hopes that it will have a positive impact on her social experience in school. One scene that comes to mind specifically is when she puts on makeup, gets into bed, takes a selfie and posts it to her Snapchat story with a caption along the lines of, “Just woke up like this”. In the Statistics Canada report titled, “Canadians’ Assessment of Social Media in Their Lives”, it is noted that “12 to 14% of users reported feeling anxious or depressed, frustrated or angry, or envious of the lives of others”, with this feeling being most prevalent among individuals between the ages of 15 and 34. We see this constantly in the movie with Kayla when she gets frustrated with her dad, and instances like the one that I just mentioned are a major reason for this. The lives that people portray themselves as having on social media are often almost entirely fabricated. Only the perfect photos and moments are shared, many of them having been edited in order for things to appear perfect. This unfortunately leaves many others feeling anxious, depressed, frustrated, angry, or upset with their own lives for not being perfect, just as the report says. It is encouraged to be aware of this unfortunate reality of social media being disingenuous, and I truly hope that everyone takes everything they see on social media with a grain of salt.