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Impact of Social Media on Social Life
The use of social media has significantly increased in the world today. Different platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Snapchat are virtually impacting on all aspects of our lives (Hawi & Maya 577). Most people consider social media to be a symbol of popularity. After creating accounts, users post and share content with their virtual friends, including their activities, pictures, whereabouts, and feelings (Marwick & Danah 1055). For that, social media has become an important source of information on what is happening in different parts of the globe. In the “Nosedive” episode of the reality show Black Mirror directed by Joe Wright, characters struggle to maintain high ratings on Instagram as a tool that would enable them to access their desires. From the show, technology represents a dark element of humanity. The episode presents a vivid imagination of the future based on the way most people are already living. Failure to achieve the ratings was seen to cause bullying, frustration, isolation, feelings of being disliked, and anxiety concerning the future. Analyzing the events in the episode above, this paper will discuss the impact of social media on the lives of people today.
People present personalities on their social media platforms that are different from those of their real selves (Hawi & Maya 577). For instance, people do not want others to see their emotions such as pain and sadness when they post pictures of them on social media. However, they can easily express their feelings to family members and partners. Social media significantly affects the way an individual would like to be perceived, including the reputation they struggle to build online at the expense of their physical relationships in real life (McFarland & Robert 1654). For instance, Lacie, a young adult with an average rating of 4.2 spends most of her time practicing how to put on a happy face in the mirror and composing adorable pictures to post on her timeline to attract attention on Instagram. She also rates her friends five stars so that they can also rate back and increase her rating. For that, social media is increasingly giving virtual friends a responsibility for our satisfaction and emotional well-being (McFarland & Robert 1656).
The world is walking into a condition in which the daily life activities of an individual depend on how other people perceive them, representing a life rating. The influence you command on social media determines the type of people you interact with, the house you can own, the work you can be employed, and the respect of your fundamental rights. For example, when planning events such as parties, people tend to prefer using social media platforms to invite friends. In such cases, offline people feel disadvantaged because most important information that is in shared informally on social media platforms easily bypasses them.
Most people spend a lot of time practicing impressive lifestyles to gain popularity and approval of their online friends. Stripping most of our time, being online on social media has significantly ripped use of social skills and relationships (Marwick & Danah 1052). An individual feels isolated and has a reduced sense of belonging when offline. Therefore, social media has killed real-life relationships between family members, relatives, and friends at the expense of keeping virtual friends (McFarland & Robert 1654). Dedication of much time to social media has reduced that available to enjoy with real-life pleasures such as physical socialization (Marwick & Danah 1053).
Social networking has reduced the ability of individuals to socialize in the physical environment by adversely impacting on the self-confidence of individuals and increasing social segregation (Fardouly et al. 35). In the series, Lacie’s life rating jeopardizes her relationship with her friends as she struggles to improve it. Through social media, a hierarchy of popularity has been established, and all people are struggling to rise through it notwithstanding the personal likes and dislikes. For example, Lacie forces herself to take coffee and a biscuit in the coffee shop to get digital attention even though she did not like it. Lacie is pushed into accepting to work as a maid of honor in the wedding of her friend with the hope of attracting influencers that would rate her. Therefore, it is evident that social media is slowly forcing people to do things out of fame while overlooking their hobbies and interests.
People who get fewer likes on their posts feel inferior, and it can affect their self-esteem. Obsession with personal influence online often results in feelings of jealousy, depression, and exclusion, making individuals feel like their lives are not perfect as those of their friends with thousands of likes and continual streaming social media news feeds (Vogel, 250). For that, social media has significantly reduced the self-esteem of adolescents (King 308). Lacie, a young woman is obsessed with her rating on social media set by her virtual friends on Instagram. She struggles to raise her ratings from the current 4.2 to 4.5 through out-nicing each her friends. It elicits a feeling of anxiety among users when they do not get the attention they anticipate. In an extreme situation, depression becomes inevitable (Vogel 250). For example, careers like an Uber Drivers rely on ratings from their passengers to advance their credit score. Also, the number of likes an individual gets depend on the credit score.
Social media has increased the prevalence of addiction to smartphones, especially among the youth (King 307). Most people spend a significant part of their day swapping through social media pages, disrupting other important activities, including their sleeping patterns. While most people know almost everything that is happening in the world, they are ignorant of life without social media such as that with their family members (King 307). Social media rewards people with messages, likes, and comments which in the long run triggers feelings of addiction and anticipation of getting online. Most people find themselves visiting social media before sleeping and may remain online until late. Whereas it looks easy to be popular on social media, the price is relatively higher for youths who may be forced to breach their boundaries of behavior and morality in society. For example, being obsessed with popularity sometimes pushes individuals, especially teenagers into violating their privacy by posting their nude pictures online (Marwick & Danah 1052)
Social media has changed the way people perceive themselves. Most people observe themselves in the eyes of their social media friends, through likes and comments. For that, many people are concerned about their body image and seek to edit their pictures to perfection before posting them online (Fardouly et al. 32). For example, most ladies perfect their body make-up such as their faces before taking selfies because they would like to give the world their best looks. However, they least care how the people they physically interact with on a day-to-day basis perceive them. Unfortunately, people are not certain that the world would appreciate their best look and effort (Fardouly et al. 34). While many likes and positive comments often promote a sense of belonging and approval, few likes and negative comments cause jealous of other people, self-dislike, and reduced self-esteem. Therefore, social media has increased the attention towards body shape and appearance based on the expectations of society (Fardouly et al. 3).
Additionally, social media has shifted the attention of people towards online friends while neglecting the feelings of individuals around them. Lacie ignores the turbulence that social media causes to her world. She is forced to act nice to all the people she interacts with for them to give her a positive rating. Expectations always pave the way for frustrations as Lacie is rated negatively by her Uber driver for keeping her waiting. She feels not to have deserved such a bad rating and in revenge, decides not to rate any Uber driver. Therefore, social media has increased the expectations that people have on their online friends, for their achievement and happiness, the frustration of which causes personal suffering which is not shared online.
Additionally, social media has changed the perception of life. While life would be about having fun and satisfaction, social media has made its objective to be victorious over other people. People chase popularity online by doing different activities, including those they are not good at (Hawi & Maya 578). For instance, Lacie is chasing after a life rating through trying to be nice to all people, taking meals she does not like, and even becoming a maid of honor in her friend’s wedding just to attract attention through the delivery of a speech at the event.
The frustration of individual’s expectations on social media significantly impacts on the real life of an individual, causing low self-esteem and eliciting feelings of rejection, exclusion, down gradation, and dislike (McFarland & Robert 1657). When Lacie’s brother gives her a bad rating after an argument, and another cab driver rates her poorly be keeping her waiting, her rating nosedives. For that, she loses her trip to the wedding because her rating is too low, and become and feels frustrated. The experience of Lacie as most things collapse on her in humiliation becomes more torturous to watch.
Also, society gives privileges to people who are social and popular. Society tends to rewards charismatic people, those who are positively disgusting. For example, Lacie learns that she can reduce the rent of her dream home by twenty percent if she achieves a rating of 4.5. Also, Lacie’s friend arranges a pretty wedding that is based on fakeness. However, the wedding turns out to be as colorful as anticipated. For that, people are willing to give up more important things in their life just for a feeling of acceptance, such as a high rating. It is not because of their preferences but because of how the world presents such ideologies to them, a manner that seems widely acceptable and relevant to all people.
The world might look down on them, but it doesn’t matter, because you can achieve everything you want in life by just being yourself. The girls wedding, as pretty as it was, it was all based on fakeness. The two in the jail was way more beautiful and impactful because even though the setting (prison) is terrible, their interaction was based on a genuine connection. They didn’t look at each other as just numbers but as human beings. Also, it’s interesting to analyze the speech patterns of the characters in the show. They speak almost like they’re texting or commenting on a picture. It’s incredibly strange and worrying. You can even dive deeper and notice how certain hand motions and smiles are sustained, almost like emoji. I thought this episode was very well done.
On the other hand, the world looks down upon the people who decide to be real in their lives (McFarland & Robert 1654). For instance, when Susan decides to ignore what other people would think about her and start enjoying her life, she looks impossible. Also, when Lacie is arrested and detained, her conversation with her cell-mate with insults turns to be more beautiful and impactful because it is based on a genuine connection even if the background environment (prison) is terrible. In the conversation, they do not see each other according to their numbers like in social media, but as human beings. Analyzing the disparity in communication between the two situations reveals that in social media, people only text and comment on a picture while in real life, they can exchange emotions and hand motions. For example, Lacie and her cellmate are happy and smile at each other even if their conversation is full of insults.
Finally, social media has caused many people to have a fixed identity of what is pleasant and acceptable among people while becoming insensitive to the diversity of people’s perceptions. The sameness in through and activities leads to physical and emotional pain and eradicates free will and individualism when doing day-to-day activities. The line of thought has made society to punish people for being unpleasant. For example, Lacie’s workmate encounters a challenge facing her colleagues in the office after they blacklisted her after experiencing a breakup, pushing her rating below 3.5. Lacie also ends up with a double damage rating after she argues with an airport attendant and gets her rating to reduce by a full unit. The episode ends with Lacie being robbed of her phone and being detained. She happily exchanges insults with her fellow prisoners in the hall.
In a nutshell, the rate at which social media is controlling our lives is alarming. Many people are obsessed with the image they create on social media than the impression they have in real life. The episode gives an insight into the world today in which online popularity is all that matters. People are increasingly competing with each other with feelings of jealousy and dissatisfaction with the attention acquired is not inadequate. Social media has shifted the lifestyle of people online while sidelining physical relationships. With a high rate of addiction, people spend more time on social media at the expense of quality sleep and important activities during the day. Therefore, people should learn to regulate the time they spend on social media per day and maintain their real personality. By so doing, they would avoid frustration, loss of self-worth, and depression caused by virtual friends.
Works Cited
Vogel, Erin A., et al. “Who compares and despairs? The effect of social comparison orientation on social media use and its outcomes.” Personality and Individual Differences 86 (2015): 249-256. Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/576b2868bebafbdcb747da7c/t/581bf118ff7c501f35780836/1478226200797/VogelRoseOkdieEcklesFranz.pdf
Marwick, Alice E., and Danah Boyd. “Networked privacy: How teenagers negotiate context in social media.” New media & society 16.7 (2014): 1051-1067. Retrieved from https://www.dhi.ac.uk/san/waysofbeing/data/communities-murphy-marwick-2014.pdf
Fardouly, Jasmine, Rebecca T. Pinkus, and Lenny R. Vartanian. “The impact of appearance comparisons made through social media, traditional media, and in person in women’s everyday lives.” Body image 20 (2017): 31-39. Retrieved from http://www2.psy.unsw.edu.au/Users/lvartanian/Publications/Fardouly,%20Pinkus,%20&%20Vartanian%20(2017).pdf
McFarland, Lynn A., and Robert E. Ployhart. “Social media: A contextual framework to guide research and practice.” Journal of Applied Psychology 100.6 (2015): 1653-1677. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5f79/9cafe88b0c9fb56d1727f3833004471515b8.pdf
Hawi, Nazir S., and Maya Samaha. “The relations among social media addiction, self-esteem, and life satisfaction in university students.” Social Science Computer Review 35.5 (2017): 576-586. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nazir_Hawi/publication/306048463_The_Relations_Among_Social_Media_Addiction_Self-Esteem_and_Life_Satisfaction_in_University_Students/links/59efa4b6a6fdcce2096dc335/The-Relations-Among-Social-Media-Addiction-Self-Esteem-and-Life-Satisfaction-in-University-Students.pdf
King, Daniel L., et al. “Adolescent simulated gambling via digital and social media: An emerging problem.” Computers in Human Behavior 31 (2014): 305-313. Retrieved from http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/27358/1/PubSub5118_Griffiths.pdf