Generation of Obsessing to Self-imag

Social media is a place where people can be vocal about their problems. By encouraging the act of sharing opinions, it pushes people’s thought process on different types of topics, resulting in a generation more opened to debate and compromise. Today activist groups operate mainly on social sites. NOW, National Organization for Women, is a national group that fights for women rights and any issues surrounding their benefits. Its members mostly are active social media users who promote their feminist ideal and attracting similar interest on many sites like Facebook or Twitter. For example, NOW is calling its members to take action on “State-Level Abortion Bans” by gathering them through social sites to form protest (Mobilize for the reproduction justice). Not judging on the topic of right or wrong, NOW has taken advantaged of social tools to spread out their ideology and make sure their opinions can create tremendous impact on relevant events.

As good side comes with bad side, the over-presenting of personal information brings more harm than benefits. Social media have their stigma of encouraging privacy invasion, which is true in many cases. It’s not easy to control the person who observing another person’s profile on the other screen, including acknowledging their intentions.

While sites like Instagram or Facebook reward their users for showing off life events’ photos by the number of “likes,” people can accidently leak out personal information that shouldn’t be presented to public’s eyes (Harnish). For instance, parents often love posting pictures of their children on social media to show their pride. This innocent action attracts pedophiles who can steal the kids’ photos and later to re-post them on dark websites, putting these children as risk of sex trafficking (Kirkey). Another example is Facebook scandal of exploiting users’ data for advertising and political campaign, affecting up to 87 million people (Chang). Even though this event didn’t directly harm any individual, it shows how vulnerable privacy can be when people practice social media.

Younger generation often look up to social media as personal guide, which can lead to identity crisis. Teenager years are the time for adolescents to explore their values and roles in society. This is also the age of hyper-interacting on social media with 95% of them said to be constantly online, based on Pew Research’s statistic (Anderson, Monica, and Jingjing Jiang). Social sites are full of people with “perfect life:” glamorous photos, countless partying moments, fancy events. This created a generation of obsessing to self-image and constant need for approval (Harnish). In fact, some people rather do anything for “likes” of million “friends” that they don’t know than the person in front of them. We select picture that has the best lighting, the best angles, the best effect which barely reflects ourselves in reality just to impress others. This portrays a false illusion which only makes users losing touch with realistic connection.

The acts of seeking for validation and comparing each other’s life can easily lead to depression and going against one’s judgment just to feel fit in (Cherry). Cyberbullying is an example of identity crisis fueled by peer pressure, often results in tragic events like suicide (The Life and Death Consequences of Cyber Bullying). According to American Pew Research Centre, 43% of teenagers has experienced online bullying, and these victims have 2 to 9 time more likely to commit in suicide than others (Lenhart). Over exposure to social media can cause confusion and harm our youth in their journey of discovering self-identity.

All in all, social media present powerful tools encouraging human interaction as well as opening up opportunities for individuals to raise their voices, acting as a part of society. However, the imbalance of using social media can do more harm than good. Hyper-transparent culture exposes us to multiple risks that can invade privacy and cause identity crisis. To diminish these side effects, users should be careful on sharing personal information online and distinguish between false and realistic expectations.

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