29/03/2017

Social media and why can't people just be themselves!

I recently watched an episode of the show Black Mirror on Netflix for the second time. It's called Nosedive and it takes place in the future, where people can vote each other's popularity out of 5 stars.  The higher people's ranking, the more things they have available to them even including friends or acquaintances.  It's actually a really sad episode and it made me think lots about how there's so much emphasis on social media these days being like an online popularity contest and how many likes people can get for stuff.  I find it really quite sad and it actually makes me worry about my daughter's future.

I grew up with a phone that was connected by a wire to the wall and a TV that you had to walk over to when you wanted to change channels! Social media wasn't a thing back then (I'm not that ancient either!) and I really worry about (young) people today when I see what sort of stuff they post and also how on so many pictures you see, people aren't smiling.  They are more often than no doing the (duck!) pout and the peace sign thing or sticking their tongues out. I mean why can't people just smile and look natural? It seems to have become the norm to do it; but why? That's without all the filters available at the push of a button which make people almost unrecognisable.  What happened to natural beauty and when did these ridiculous poses become the in thing?  I much prefer seeing photos of people smiling, fresh faced and not in the slightest bit staged. I prefer those sort of pictures of myself too but I seem to find it hard to do a natural smile and always seem to do a really fake one if someone shoves a camera in my face, but at least I've tried!

I see so many pictures of (often young) people looking quite frankly ridiculous if you think about it. Girls seem to be a lot worse too.  If I want to take a photo of my daughter and she does a silly pose, I cringe.  I am not sure she understands why I ask her not to do it but I really don't like it.  She knows I hate it and sometimes will do it to wind me up and will laugh at my reaction before smiling! She's not even 8 yet and I want her to look like a little girl.  I'm not saying children don't look like children on such photos but I think it does spoil it a bit when they automatically do it.  Surely if someone points a camera at you, you should smile? I love looking back at photos from over the years and I wouldn't want them all to be like that. They obviously can't be smiling on every photo and I love nothing more than taking one when she doesn't know I have done, but I just find it so frustrating that every time I put the internet on, it's full of people looking the same! This is just my opinion though and I know not everyone will agree!!

Social media is such a funny one.  You can paint a picture of the perfect life when the reality is often nothing like that.  Think of someone you know and the life they portray themselves as having compared to the life you know they actually have.  An illusion of perfection is often far from the reality,  yet people can't help it.  Some people also seem to thrive on comments from others telling them they look amazing or they are "goals" which I absolutely hate!!  Goals is one of those cringeworthy things like when people say "bae". Judder!

The photos I share on Instagram are like an online album of memories for me and I love looking back at them. I like to take a nice photo and will try to make sure I have nothing in the background that I would prefer not to be seen (I mean no-one wants to see a random bra or a dirty plate lurking!) but I never post stuff that isn't real and if I've not been well enough to do something, I won't pretend I have.  I know some people feel they have to post amazing photos all the time which must have taken ages setting up to look just right, when actually behind the scenes it's nothing like the caption may suggest. I don't understand why someone would go to the effort of doing it.  If I don't have anything to post, I don't put pressure on myself to post.  I certainly don't waste energy I don't have setting up a photo for the sake of social media. It really shouldn't matter what people think but it does matter to so many.  Some people feel they have to post stuff to look good, to get a certain number of likes.  Who actually cares though? I also know of young people who feel they have to fit in with what their friends or peers are doing despite not actually wanting to and if they don't do it they will be alienated. It really makes me sad.  Does it really matter? It 100% shouldn't but today's society is a scary place to be growing up in.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I just wish people would be themselves and not feel they have to comply with what they think is expected of them or to please other people.  The episode of Black Mirror I mentioned is very thought provoking. In fact, the majority of episodes are and I definitely recommend watching if you can.

Would love to hear what other people think about this!





Ali
xx

4 comments

  1. That episode of Black Mirror is a scary insight into a future that could so easily happen. Some of it already does. As you say people getting status or gifts because of their 'ratings'. Non of this is healthy or can lead to any real happiness and that's what's so very sad.
    Great post. Keep on keeping it real!
    Sian
    X

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  2. I have a very love hate relationship with social media, hate what it is and what it does, but can't live without it as my only contact with the outside world. I have been thinking of writing a blog about social media too, but not managed it yet.

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  3. That episode was so scary! My daughter is 13 and her instagram feed is full of friends pulling duck pouts and stupid poses. And then asking for ratings! When I saw her post one like that I was really upset by it, I don't want her growing up thinking social media is the real world and people judging each others selfies like that is ok. It so isn't! Luckily she's not done it since after we had yet another chat about real life vs instagram. It's horrible to think how much it can impact on their self esteem :(

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  4. Social media has become a selling force for the marketing world and marketers are taking a great advantage of it. Recent survey shows that about 75% of sales and purchase decisions are done through social media evaluations in one way or the other. tiktok

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