A friend of mine was talking to me about some people she unfollowed on Instagram, saying it was “immature”, but she just didn’t want to see their posts anymore. That, and my intro to media course, got me thinking about social media as a culture.
First of all, it is serious. People act like their likes and followers don’t matter. “I have more followers than people I follow – but I don’t care haha”. But its such a huge part of our culture – it has become serious. There is “fame” on social media. Drama is started on media. Relationships are formed (and destroyed). The only way you can tell me it isn’t serious, is if you honestly do. not. care. People put on a face for social media – literally. You probably have 1-3 faces in the majority of your selfies – but it was JUST a selfie, right? And the excuses in the captions? “because it’s Easter”, “birthday selfie!” – people feel the need to justify their posts, when really, they just feel good about themselves. And hashtags? A chance to get seen. An extra “like”, a comment if you’re lucky. And why do you want these? Because social media has begun to determine self worth. Followers, likes, comments, tinder matches, retweets, reblogs. People are looking for the world to validate them – and this validation comes from numbers on social media.
Still don’t agree?
If it wasn’t serious – why don’t you see ugly faces? Why is not wearing makeup something to celebrate? A Friday night post with friends says “I have an active social life”, a picture of our new phone says “I can afford to be cool”. Even the rare bad photos are an excuse to show off. “Hey, look how hung over I am from last night’s party!” or “Look I’m all sweaty because I’m fit and just worked out”. People show their peers the self they want people to think they are – always pretty, always happy, always cool.
And then there’s the link between media and society’s obsession with appearance. I get the most likes on my selfies. I post writing pieces, food, nature stuff, thing going on around me. I would honestly look back at my Instagram the way I look at a scrapbook, because I document a lot about my life in it. But my selfies get the most likes – most of them have more likes than the photo of my university acceptance letter or the screenshot of the email saying my marks earned me a free tuition scholarship. My appearance is worth more attention than my education, according to social media. Why do you think this is?
How many times have you scrolled through your feed on Instagram, and liked every selfie you saw, or almost every one? Without really looking at them? And yet everything else that comes up – you actually have to care. Liking a selfies means “I’m giving you confidence, hoping in exchange that you will give me confidence when I post a selfie”. It’s a favour. Everything else is genuine interest, but liking a selfie is to make someone feel good. Because appearance is so important to us.
Earlier I said my appearance is more important than my education (and every other part of my life). Now I’ll prove it. Tinder. You talk to someone based on appearance, and whatever they choose to say in their little description. What does that look like in real life? It looks like men stopping me to ask for my number while I’m minding my business walking downtown. They are willing to spend money on me (presumably, considering dates are rarely free) based on how I look. Not once has someone asked for my name in the brief conversation that leads to their rejection. They don’t know if I’m 17 or 24. They don’t know if I’m smart, educated, interesting. People are willing to spend money on me to find out – because of my appearance. It’s free, generally, to get to know a person before asking them on a date. But they want the pretty one. This is the real life version of Tinder, and I’m constantly forced to swipe – I mean step – left, and continue on.
Of course all social media is about an image – what you say on Twitter or Facebook creates an image just like photos on Instagram do. That’s who books work… Words create images. I mainly used Instagram as an example, but this post applies to all media. And of course, I have to finish with “but this doesn’t apply to everyone”. Because if I don’t, someone is going to complain that their media doesn’t fit the bill – congrats to them. But for the rest of you… Is this what social media is about? Generating an image? Is being attractive really society’s biggest concern (or at least being “cool”, since not all trends are about “pretty”).
– Chloé
Sikirar 