Social Media and Self Worth
Today I am going to talk about how social media has lead to our lives being a popularity contest. Only not really. I read this post the other day and I disagreed with it almost completely. I even commented on the article. I don’t think life has turned into a popularity contest. We just have different means of communicating.
Do you think that social media is taking over our lives? Is that necessarily a bad thing?
Some argue that yes, it is. We don’t talk face to face as much. We’re too connected all the time. Young people have an unhealthy relationship with their phones.
Maybe we are too connected all the time. It can be exhausting. Do we not talk face to face as much though? I’m not sure I agree with that. Maybe we literally don’t, but it’s possible to connect with more people more quickly with social media. If I want to see someone I haven’t in a while, I send them a message on Facebook, and we make plans to get together. Maybe I spend too much time talking to people who live far from me. Is it a bad thing to keep in touch with old friends? On Facebook and Instagram I get to see pictures of my cousins’ kids, I get to see them grow up, even though I’m not there. If you would have told people that fifty years ago, I think they would find that pretty cool.
But what about our sense of self worth? Are we too hung up on how many followers we have? Maybe some of us are, but I really don’t believe that it’s the majority of us. I think the majority of us do have other things to worry about. I think the majority of us do grow up to be functional adults with a healthy amount of self esteem. Some of us don’t though, but in a different time, those people would have the same problems.
People don’t change that much. The technologies we have available to us may shine a light on some problems, but they are not the problem themselves. The problem is people blaming technology and not taking a look at what might actually be the underlying cause. Perhaps somebody has crippling social anxiety, and that’s why they stay home on Facebook. In another time, they would still have crippling social anxiety. Perhaps someone has really low self esteem and that’s why they post selfies everyday–to get validation. In another time, they would still seek others approval. Or maybe they’re just bored. Not everything we do in our lives has to be analyzed as some marker of a larger societal problem.
People are scared of what they don’t understand, and choose to criticize it. In this case the older generation is criticizing, because they see the younger generation interacting differently than they did. But we’re really not that different. We still hang out with our friends and family, we still share ideas, we still enjoy those moments that are important in our lives with other people.
I hope that people still seek out what is important to them–passions, hobbies, time with those we love. I hope that people still feel a sense of community and connection with the people they know. If they are not doing that, then I hope they look to their lives to see what needs to change. But when used the right way, social media can help us facilitate those connections, and those moments that are most important to us.
I will connect to this poem again, as it so eloquently illustrates my point. I will also probably print this out and put it on my fridge. In fact, at the risk of looking like a crazy person, I might print out a bunch of copies and hand them out on the street, so people realize that social media is actually amazing. Because it is.
And you, too, dear readers, should continue to be amazing,
Phaera
PS. I wrote about Xbox for my next post. So get ready.