In this article, the author premises the start of social media through Facebook and goes on to explain how it has advanced since its release in 2004. Beginning as a way to network in college it has reached the height of its potential, and as the author translates, it has overstepped its boundaries. Facebook in particular(among other social media networks not mentioned) has become increasingly popular where billions of people use it. At its start it “tapped into the fierce social competitiveness that the US education system seems to be built on,” now expanded far beyond just the educational system. People became fixated on the image of themselves portrayed to others, from their profile pictures to status updates. Harris stated that, ” Almost one in four admitted to lying or exaggerating about key aspects of their life.” It argues that Facebook has diminished the barrier between our public and private lives as in an attempt to be popular or successful on the platform, the “endless performance, the craven pursuit of approval and worrying about what other people think of us might be quintessentially adolescent behavior, but millions of people of a much more advanced age are doing exactly those things on a minute-by-minute basis, usually via Facebook.” It’s a question of, “who we really are beyond the attention and judgments of others, and whether we even know any more.” There is also the issue of not being able to separate yourself from it, as you may find yourself picking up you phone every few minutes to take a glance and why we can’t put it down–either alone or in the presence of others.
My life has been effected by social media in both a positive and negative manner. It allows me to communicate with my friends and family, not just through messages but through pictures and videos as well and can be really fun. However social media can be very toxic, and my friends and I have agreed it can reach an unhealthy point. It can be difficult, harming your mental health while scrolling through all the edited and perfect moments of others’ lives, and though you know its edited it still sets very unrealistic expectations for yourself and can make even the most confident people insecure. I joined Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter in the eight grade as a . way to connect with my friends and family as everyone else was doing the same. I’ve definitely been using it more and more as time has progressed, now on a daily basis. Once again, I do post the best parts of my life on social media, and present myself in the best way unless its with my close trusted friends. I feel like it matches up to my true self but not all of myself, and not all parts of my personality that my friends and family know.
I found it interesting when you mentioned that people have trouble restricting themselves from looking at their phones because nowadays people are so focused on opinions that others have on them.
Good points on how social media has led to people’s obsession with their image and tying it to how the barrier between public and private life is diminishing. I also can relate to how you use social media.
I completley agree with you when you say that social media can harm mental health and cause unrealistic expectations for users through editing. I relate to how you talked about your realization that social media can reach unhealthy points.