‘How are our social experiences bound up with social media platforms and their affordances, and how we make use of them?'
Hello again to my beautiful digital community!!
Here at ISLA Talks we are all about modern conversations of the millennial mind! If you are a new reader, welcome!
In my last blog I covered how social networking can interfere with our professional life, for the purpose of this blog I will unraveling some of the real impacts of social media in your personal life.
I want to start off this blog by talking about the above image. It is all too familiar right? those long nature hikes with the irresistible urge to post to your Instagram story or maybe that perfectly constructed avocado on toast at your favourite cafe or even buying that white linen outfit for a photo on the beach to post to your feed. We have entered a time where people are living their experiences online rather than being present in reality. So….. Drum roll please…
This weeks topic is ‘How are our social experiences bound up with social media platforms and their affordances, and how we make use of them?'
I remember growing up my father telling me, “The world doesn’t need robots when we can turn humans into them”, I of course at age 14 did not know what he meant.. fast forward to 2021 and I stand on a train platform looking around and everyone has the same mundane vacant stare downwards onto their phone screens. It made me think of the link between what my father told me and Sherry Turkle’s ‘Connected but alone’ TED Talk which elaborates on concepts of human connection diminishing due to the rise of social media usage, her comments were haunting to me as I reflected on my own usage of social media and how at times I have become void of interacting with people in person. "We are developing sociable robots, designed to be companions.....We have lost confidence in being their for each other"(Sherry Turkle 2013)
So when did this shift begin and why are we so intrinsically linked to sharing our experiences online?
From childhood our urge to share experiences are create memories are fundamental for our development, we experience satisfaction and enjoyment from engaging with others through activities. The dawn of social media created a way people around the world could digitise their experiences and find commonalities across different countries and cultures. Because we experience feelings of satisfaction from these shared experiences, the competitive nature of social media creates an on demand system to share what you are doing, how you are feeling, what products you use and what food you consume .
Social media is media shared through a social networking platform. The power in social media is in the way you curate your presence and manufacture your personality… We have essentially become objects of media. Going back to The Public Sphere Theory (Habermas 1962) in my last blog, if we look at ourselves as a form of media we can understand the power of social media and it’s affordances.
Social Media offers an amazing ability for us to connect with others and create a digital community. We can form communities through engaging with media that resonates with us, for instance, I love a good food blog or instagram page to gain fresh inspiration in the kitchen... Through developing digital communities on social media we can feel a sense of wholeness in our lives. Our experiences have become bound up in social media technologies because our basic human need to feel connected can be achieved instantly. During the beginnings of COVID-19 life completely switched to social media and online technologies, with more people sharing their unfiltered at home lives with one another as a form of connection.
Have we stopped relying on in person interaction and connection and more on online platforms as a way to deliver communication?… well kind of…
During this time of isolation and separation from friends and loved ones, many have found solitude in social media as a form of connection and it has been the only option for many in areas of lockdown. Sherry Turkle’s TED Talk as mentioned above links the two powerful messages that can be applied to this era of time we are living in "technology appeals to us most where we are most vulnerable" and "we will never have to be alone".
We’ve talked about the positives.. Now let’s talk about the negative affordances on social media….
On the other side of the spectrum, living our experiences online can be harmful for our mental health. There are so many issues that arise from online interactions such as cyberbullying, ghosting, desensitisation, and with social media addictions on the rise so is anxiety and depression as a result of over using these platforms. To understand how these platforms work we must first understand our own psychology.
“The phenomena of social media addiction can largely be contributed to the dopamine-inducing social environments that social networking sites provide. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram produce the same neural circuitry that is caused by gambling and recreational drugs to keep consumers using their products as much as possible. Studies have shown that the constant stream of retweets, likes, and shares from these sites have affected the brain’s reward area to trigger the same kind of chemical reaction as other drugs, such as cocaine.” (Jenna Hillard 2019)
Social media addiction is a behavioural addiction due to prolonged over use of the platforms, over 13.4 million Australians using the internet for a shocking 18.8 hours a day, it is no wonder we are struggling with more and more people developing addictions. I am no psychologist but you can notice if you are struggling with social media addiction by monitoring your emotions. Some symptoms of social media addiction include, feelings of isolation, FOMO (fear of missing out), irritability, troubles sleeping, decreased in person relating, anxiety and depression. While our desire for constant connectivity during the COVID-19 Pandemic has become fundamental in the ways we communicate, there has been a rise in online communicational issues such as The Online Disinhibition Effect.
The Online Disinhibition Effect comes as a result of people lowering their inhibitions while on an online platform. People express themselves more freely without direct consequence or confrontation of face to face interaction, for some people this creates a sense of freedom of expression for others they find they can communicate very intimate details of their lives and feel safe to do so. This could be as simple as sharing how you feel today or as complex as describing a loss of a family member, we tend to slip into a more informal tone when writing about our feelings online because it feels safe to do so due to the disinhibition effect. While the online disinhibition effect can be beneficial for some people who struggle with social anxiety and neurological disorders, when communication on an online platform turns to toxic disinhibition it converts to Cyberbullying and can cause harmful effects on peoples psychology.
Cyberbullying like COVID 19 is a real international pandemic. A 2018-2021 survey led by Comparitech revealed that 60% of parents of children between 14-18 had been victims of cyber bulling and 45% of 14 and under had experienced cyber bullying. While the Australian Government has tried to bring in laws against cyber bullying, it still remains as a national issue with more education needed in schools around this issue. Even as adults we experience cyber bulling through social media such as Instagram with people partaking in hate speech, harassment and abuse as a result of toxic disinhibition.
What is crazy is that these are just some of the issues that arise through social media platforms…
Because we have the control of the media we post and the impact we have through our digital communities, it is more important than ever to use that power for the greater good. If you see or hear someone is being cyber bullied or struggling with their mental health due to social media they can contact the below services:
Kids Help Line: 1800 55 1800
https://kidshelpline.com.au/teens/issues/bullying
Headspace:
https://headspace.org.au/young-people/what-is-bullying-and-the-effects-on-mental-health/
Lifeline: 13 11 14
https://www.lifeline.org.au
This week I want to leave you with this….Next time you go to grab your phone, think is it necessary, is this taking me away from living in the moment…
xoxo ISLA TALKS