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Social Media: A Toxic Mirror to Self-Definition

Social Media: A Toxic Mirror to Self-Definition #Reality vs #Perception

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Social Media: A Toxic Mirror to Self-Definition

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  1. By: Janice Halabi Social Media: A Toxic Mirror to Self- Definition #REALITY VS #PERCEPTION

  2. Social media can be a dangerous obsession that can turn even the most honest self to disconnect from reality and connect to a dishonest fantasy. “In reality, other people liking you is a bonus. You liking yourself is the real prize.”[3]

  3. “Technology doesn’t Psychologically damaging just do things for us. It does thing to us, changing not Social media can have negative effects on your just what we do but who we are.”[12] brain and behaviour. A few of these impacts are: • Spend more money. • Can impact your ability to think more independently. • Give you a false self-esteem boost while your real self is suffering in silence with lower self-esteem. • Make you socially awkward during in person conversations. • Emotionally program you and alter your mood. • Compare your achievements to others. • Become envious (gain joy from the misfortunes of others). • Addicted and judgemental.

  4. “The problem social media platforms have given us is we hide behind screens, allowing others to judge us for the lives we want them to think we have, the lives we portray online.”[1]

  5. Things we portray as our reality on “Some people aren’t really social media but are far from genuine in our lives: all that they “post” to be.” [5] • Appearance. • Relationships. • Being at the most elite spots (compete). • Adventure in the most “heavenly” settings. • Perfection (facial and body image). • Pretend friends and characteristics.

  6. “A recent survey has found around two- thirds of people on social media post images to their profiles to make their lives seem more adventurous. And more than three quarters of those asked said they judged their peers based on what they saw on their Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook profiles.”[14]

  7. 1. More than 75% of people admit to making their lives Based on a British seem more exciting on social media. survey that was 2. Half post images to cause jealousy among friends and conducted: family. 3. 76% of those asked also said seeing items on social media influences them to buy them, with men more likely to take style advice and buy what they see. 4. 6% per cent said they would borrow items to pose with in photos and pretend they were their own. [14] “I didn’t feel isolated because I was still interacting with folks. But I was only connecting with what I could see and hear around me. That’s not satisfying. There’s so much going on around the world that I want to feel part of.”[2]

  8. Psychologists conducted a study through a procedure called facial electromyography and found “When the subjects were actively engaged with Facebook, their physiological response measured a significant uptick in happiness.” [7]

  9. Buying Popularity One major epidemic with social media is the availability to buy followers and gain more likes. Several people do this for an ample amount of reasons. Some of these reasons include self-promoting, ego feeding and attention seeking, opening opportunities for job bookings and more. However, the purchasing fake follower’s method ends up faking out companies (model agencies, successful photographers etc.) into hiring these individuals. It also tricks advertisement companies into contacting the individual and offering a large pay for advertising their product(s) on their social media account(s). Even some of the biggest companies have been conned into sponsoring an individual to represent their products or conduct product reviews for them. Based on what they understood as a natural gain of popularity and followers.

  10. • Facebook: On Socialyup.com you can buy 500 likes for $30 or 20,000 for $699. • Pinterest: Pinfol delivers 100 followers for $15 or 5,000 for $95. • Twitter: FanMeNow’s packages start at $10 for 1,000 followers. $1,750 will score you a million. • YouTube: 500views.com delivers 30,000 views for $150. For $3,100, make your video “viral” with a million views. • Instagram: Pay Buy-More-Fans.com $75 in exchange for 5,000 followers. • Blogs: Using CommentHunt.com, you can buy 50 blog comments for $149 or 250 blog comments for $399. • Vimeo: JustBuyViews.com will net you 100,000 Vimeo views for $200. • Tumblr: 100 Tumblr followers will cost you $10.99; 10,000 will cost you $484.64 using Social Network Booster. [11]

  11. “Eric White a former journalist seeking to break into public relations, who tweeted a link to his CV, but with only a few dozen followers, he didn’t get much traction.” [10] In the current era, getting hired for a job has its own added pressures. Social media has become the new “resume” in a way. Some companies will perform a thorough digital search on their applicants and look for things like popularity and/or they will judge the interviewee on what they perceive on their account. “I watch people interact, learn what their positions are, who their best friends on Twitter are, whether they have a sense of humor. From that you can get a pretty good picture.” [10] This can be unfair to an applicant who has better credentials, aces his interview, but lacks social media popularity or doesn’t conform to using social media in the way the company sought. “The Web is your CV and social networks are your references.” [10]

  12. “Popularity is not an indication of quality.”[13] It seems that the size of a person’s followers dictates a person’s credentials nowadays, with companies taking an interest in an individual’s popularity for representation. This can easily influence some to purchase followers/likes/positive comments to take the easy route for fame, a hefty pay, an ego boost, and/or to increase their chance to be hired and so forth. However, the added internal issues within that person will cost far more to repair than a momentarily perceived value.

  13. Filtering Appearance Countless apps are available that can alter a person’s appearance completely. This plays a major role in how it effects societal beauty ideals and negatively impacts people’s self-esteem. Many use extreme “Photoshop” techniques to fit a fake and unrealistic standard. A main reason this is done is so the individual feels fulfilled from a “beauty” aspect. Comments and likes boost self-esteem and from a medical stand point release “happy” chemicals in the brain.

  14. “Facebook stimulates the release of loads of dopamine as well as offering an effective cure to loneliness. Dopamine and oxytocin are powerful stuff, and no one besides Facebook has figured out how to offer shares of them to the public quite so effectively.”[9]

  15. Apps that alter appearance can: • Reshape your entire body. • Make your face/skin flawless. • Change your skin tone, alter your facial features. • Add makeup filters without having to put any on! • Change your eye color, change your eyebrow shape. And so forth.

  16. One example is the FaceApp which “transforms a user's face with artificial intelligence. Changes include adding a 'beautiful smile', appear younger or older, becoming 'more attractive' or even change gender.” [6]

  17. Some negatives that have transpired from altering appearance: • Complaints and lawsuits have occurred because people who were booked for a job or asked on a date (based on their social media profile) looked nothing like what they portray themselves to be. • Someone posts an old photo of you or a non-filtered photo and tags you. This can “ruin” your social media reputation.

  18. “Social media skews our perception of reality. Being face- to-face with someone is suddenly a change from viewing him or her through a screen.”[1]

  19. Global study conducted by Kasperksy • 61% of the participants felt worse after finding out someone “unfriended” them, and 59% were upset after someone posted a negative or critical comment on their profile • 57% said after going on social media they’ve felt that someone they follow has a better life than they do • 59% felt sad after seeing photos from a party they didn’t attend posted on social media and 45% were unhappy after seeing photos from a friend’s happy holiday outing • 58% were angered by a photo a friend posted of them online that they didn’t want made public [8]

  20. • 54% felt upset when no one liked or commented on a photo they posted • 42% were jealous when they saw a friend had more likes or comments than they did on a status update • Just 31% of people aren’t bothered by the number of likes they receive on a post • 24% of men said they worry that if they get few like, their friends will think that they are unpopular, compared to one-in-six (17%) women • To get more likes, 32% of men said they’d post something funny about a friend, compared to 21% of women [8]

  21. “If you are too focused on these “vanity metrics,” you risk painting an all-too optimistic picture of yourself.”[4] Our profiles “should be seen as rewards for the value we create, not the actual process by which value is created.” [4]

  22. “This is a new era where everyone needs to have a voice, and you want to leave a digital trail of yourself.”[10] In summary, what about the beauty in the negative? why not leave a genuine and authentic digital trail of yourself instead of portraying a fantasy life? This will get you further with your inner self than a momentarily “high” that is felt when using social media to appeal to what others want.

  23. References: [1] Alwahaidi, K. (2015, July 30). Two-Faced: How Social Media Is Turning Us Into A Fake Generation. Retrieved from http://elitedaily.com/life/social-media-making-us-faker/1101264/ [2] Anderssen, E. (2014, Mar 29). CRUSHED. The Globe and Mail Retrieved from https://search- proquest- com.proxy.queensu.ca/docview/1511086003?accountid=6180 [3] Elle, A. [_alexelle]. (2015, November 23). In reality, other people liking you is a bonus. You liking yourself is the real prize. [Tweet]. Retrieved May 23, 2017, from https://twitter.com/_alexelle/status/668872964948013057?lang=en [4] Gulati, D. (2013, December 10). Our Dangerous Obsession with External Recognition. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/12/our- dangerous-obsession-with-external-recognition [5] Ho, A. [adrianneho]. (2017, March 29). Some people aren't really all that they "post" to be. [Tweet]. Retrieved May 23, 2017, from https://twitter.com/Adrianneho/status/847192705327411204 [6] Kelly, J. (2017, April 26). FaceApp: The appearance-altering app all over your social feed. Retrieved from http://www.newstalk.com/FaceApp:-The-appearance-altering-app-all-over-your-social-fed [7] Konnikova, M. (2013, September 10). How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com.proxy.queensu.ca/tech/elements/how-facebook-makes-us-unhappy [8] Noble, J. (February 1). Study: Social Media Making People Anti-Social, Jealous. Retrieved from https://www.studyfinds.org/study-finds- social-media-jealousy-facebook/ [9] Ritvo, E. (2012, May 24). Facebook and Your Brain: The inside dope on Facebook. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/vitality/201205/facebook-and-your-brain [10] Silverman, R. E., & Weber, L. (2013, Apr 09). The new résumé: It's 140 characters; some recruiters, job seekers turn to twitter, but format is a challenge; six-second video goes viral. Wall Street Journal (Online) Retrieved from https://search-proquest- com.proxy.queensu.ca/docview/1324718460?accountid=6180 [11] Stadd, A. (2013, April 11). How To Buy Friends And Influence People: The Going Rate For Fake Followers On Social Media – Adweek. Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/digital/buying-friends-on-social-media/

  24. [12] Turkle, S. (2013, December 16). The Documented Life. New York Times, p. A25(L). Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.proxy.queensu.ca/ps/i.do? p=AONE&sw=w&u=queensulaw&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA352990428&asid=64ed7fd1666adff5f62d1e8fab1a0ca1 [13] Vanna Bonta Quotes. (n.d.) Quotes.net. Retrieved May 23, 2017, from http://www.quotes.net/authors/Vanna+Bonta [14] Zolfagharifard, E. (2015, October 15). Welcome to Facebook: More than 75% of people admit to making their lives seem more exciting on social media. Retrieved May 23, 2017, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3274749/Welcome-Fakebook- 75-people-admit-making-lives-exciting-social-media.html

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