Social Media “Perfect” Standard

 

There has been a point in someone’s life where they did not feel good enough. Everyone experiences not having the perfect body image, the perfect grades, or the popularity. Based off of a newsletter named “Healthline” they discovered that over 350 million people in the United States suffer from depression. One thing that does not help is social media.

Social media provides a “perfect” standard that people believe they must stand by. For example, the apps Instagram and Snapchat, allow anyone to cover up a person’s flaws with filters. Instagram provides anyone with an account to create their own profile, post their own pictures, follow people they admire, and receive followers back. However, Snapchat provides several frivolous filters.

These filters allow the users to change the shape of their face, the way their eyes look, and become silly animals. According to Sherry Turkle, who is a professor of the social studies of science and technology, says that “not only do we let our phones determine what we do, we let it change who we are.” (Turkle, 2012) Social media creates a life inside a person’s phone that people become addicted too, and believe that it is the way to live, look, and act.

Social Media is used way too much whether people like it or not. According to Sophia Smith, who is the author to a BBC article, states that the over use of social media is debated whether it is a mental health disorder or not. As of January 2018, the WHO (World Health Organization) identified video gaming as an addiction. (Smith, 2018) Before discussed even further, there are different types of social media that needs to be explained. The first social media that is the most popular is Facebook. Facebook, allows a user to post their own posts defining their day or thoughts. Facebook also allows pictures to be uploaded where their friends can like and comment on them. The number of friends a person has, defines their popularity. The next most popular social media app in the United States is Instagram. Although Instagram is very similar to Facebook, it is used in a different way. Like Facebook, pictures are posted where likes and comments are received, posts on Instagram are not allowed.

However, a “Story” can be uploaded where a picture or video can be seen up to 24 hours with writing that announces one’s feelings. Once again, the number of followers a user has identifies how popular that person is, it is just more obsessed with, to where people feel the need to purchase the followers they have. On Instagram, it allows people to create their own theme on their account, meaning that they can only post pictures that relate to the theme they picked.