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The impact of social media on society
Impact of social media in society
Media impacts on socialisation
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As society tends to move along with the new coming fads of the century, more people are discovering the term selfie, making it where the internet is overflowing of more people taking pictures of themselves. In an article done by Galen Guengeich titled, “’Selfie’ culture promotes a degraded worldview”, he states how ‘selfies’ are changing view of the world and making society more self-centered and disposable. He strongly states his opinion by using a variety of facts showing how this generation of young people have a degraded view on the world due to their involvement with the internet. Guengeich ideas proves that society overall has become more dependent on the internet ruining relationships. Ultimately, selfies are taking away all aspects of life, making people disconnect from society, be more narcissistic and be more concerned about how they portray their lives rather than how their life actually is. …show more content…
A selfie is defined to be a picture taken of oneself and later uploaded onto a social media website. Guengeich explains how the long lasting effects of selfies have on today’s world and states how everything in our culture can be disposed, “In a culture defined by the selfie, nothing has lasting value but the self. Which means everyone and everything can be disposed of whenever something better shows up” (Guengeich). The purpose of Guengeich essay was to get young and even older generations who post daily selfies online and show them that it is not worth losing relationships over and portraying your life to be great on the grand scheme of things
There you are holding your camera an arm’s length away from your face, posing in the most flattering position to capture your best angle. There you are taking a photo of yourself to share with all of your Facebook friends. Taking a self-portrait photo, also known as a selfie, is something almost everyone has done in this new generation. This action is typically done without a second thought. In Alex Williams’ article “Here I Am Taking My Own Picture” that second thought is provoked through exploring the quickly spreading trend of self-portrait photography. In the article while Williams’ provides interesting examples on a changing generation as this trend progresses through social media and modern technology; Williams also leaves something to be desired within the article due to a lack of direction in the author’s stance on the topic.
I feel as though more and more teens of this generation are using social media in order to seek approval of attention of others. Since they are expected to use social media in a way to create an online audience, they post pictures of themselves and activities so that they can get a “yes” or “no” response from their audience. If someone posts a picture online and someone who is considered a “friend” makes a positive comment on the photo, then they have received approval of their actions. If someone makes a negative remark on the photo, then they have received disapproval. She uses various examples of how young adults use social media to create a persona of themselves, such as when girls post sexualized pictures of themselves and create avatars of themselves (Orenstein, 448). This means that how they are seen online will affect how they act in real life. When Orenstein says that “the self, becomes a brand”, she means that young adults have to act in a way that is perceived to be socially acceptable by their peers, and the image of how everyone sees you. So many people today use social media, and the biggest one that is being used is Facebook. Profile pictures, albums, and statuses are things that gets posted up for anyone to comment, like, or dislike. Your “friends” on
In the article “What Your Selfies Say About You” by Peggy Drexler, she talks about self-portraits also known as the “selfie”, and how it has taken over social media and added a manifestation to society’s obsession with looks. Taking a self-portrait can be positive in the sense that you are proud of your image and are not scared to share it with others helping boost up your self-esteem. Although this may help others by persuading them to not be ashamed to share their true image, Drexler believes this can also affect other individuals whose focus is only on looks making them feel self-conscious about their looks. A recent study out of the UK found that the selfie phenomenon may be damaging to real world relationships, concluding that both excessive
Photography allows us to maintain memories and relish them whenever we desire. Although some advocates might argue that people are no longer enjoying experiences instead taking more pictures, in the essay, “Why We Take Pictures”, by Susan Sontag, she conflates that photography can be used as a defense against anxiety and a tool of empowerment. I agree with Sontag on the significance of photographs and how it allows us to store a part of our extended relatives so we are able to hold on the memories of family. Therefore, we must appreciate how photography allows us to manage anxiety, express feelings and remember our loved ones.
The essay How You See Yourself by Nicholas Mirzoeff discusses the evolution of art. The author discusses the use of art to represent changing identities over the years including cultural practices and societal expectations. The selfie, according to Nicholas Mirzoeff’s essay, is the equivalent of a self-portrait in the previous centuries preceding the technological development required for the present day selfie. The essay explores the different periods and the significance of art, particularly self-portraits, the selfies of the time, and their development over time. The author focuses on different themes including heroism, gender definition, and the focus of an image. Mirzoeff effectively provides examples illustrating and reinforcing the themes he highlights in his essay.
Murphy argues that people who take numerous amounts of selfies have the same attributes as psychopaths and narcissists however, that does not always mean that they are. They are just unaware if they do something that may go outside of social standards, especially if it's for a picture. Murphy reveals that selfie takers are insecure and are looking for validation from their peers; however their insecurities are masked over by their confidence. The higher number of likes they get, the more confident they feel. Murphy further states that more people are getting cosmetic surgery due to being discouraged when looking at their selfies but with all the applications that can be used to alter one’s features it isn't hard to feel that way. The apps can make your skin clear and teeth whiter it's hard to look in the mirror when you’ve seen a better version of yourself and it seems attainable. Selfie takers wouldn’t be insecure if they learn that
Although Rachel Simmons in “ Selfies Are Good for Girls” and Erin Ryan in “ Selfies Aren’t Empowering. They’re a Cry for Help”, both agree selfies can show accomplishments. However, Simmons believes selfies are a way for young women to boost their pride whereas Ryan defines them as a way to gain social approval confirmation. Simmons believes selfies are empowering, and increase self-confidence levels of young women. According to Simmons “selfie is a tiny pulse of girl pride - a shout-out to the self (P4)”. In other word, she believes self-portrait gives teenage girls an outlet to express pride within themselves. She explains how selfie not only express pride, it is also a way for young women to share their accomplishments, as shown in the
In the article “#Me: Instagram Narcissism and the Scourge of the Selfie,” John Paul Titlow say’s that “Instagram is the breeding ground for many people’s most narcissistic tendencies.”(122). I disagree with this statement because Instagram is a very useful tool and allows people all over the world to communicate and seek places unknown to them.
A selfie is a picture that you take of yourself especially by using the front camera of your smartphone ("Selfie"). The word was added to the dictionary in 2013 and originates from Australia. A selfie can be used to relive moments with someone but is mostly used for attention. There are people who post more than one selfie a day and that is outrageous. It is one of the most narcissistic acts created because there are people who spend hours a day taking selfies and don 't do anything productive instead. Majority of children know how to take selfies but not tie their shoes. It 's a trend that will never have an end. If anything the trend evolves more each day with gadgets to help take better selfies. There are tools to create a great selfie such as selfie sticks and selfie timers. There are apps to take selfies even if your phone comes with a camera application which is the most logical location on which to take a selfie. The worst selfie application I have seen to this day is the one where it appears that you were wearing make up or have a different hairstyle. The reason why are the worst because some people take it to an extreme level where they hide all of their imperfections and look like a completely different person. I have aunts who take too much advantage of those applications and end up looking as if they belonged in a cartoon. I have met many people from
The shallow, self-promoting aspects of social networking draw in narcissists like a moth to a flame. People who naturally display these traits are the highest users of social media sites. At the same time, extended use of social networking sites and social media applications, particularly the act of posting selfies, resulted in increased levels of narcissism (Halpern 4). It has been shown that those who regularly observe others’ selfies are more likely to leave comments or “like” posts. Interestingly, this relationship is not true for individuals higher in narcissism. Even though they continuously view other people’s photos, they don’t show an increase in interaction with them (Lee
In my podcast I talked about the thesis, “The Selfie Generation: Examining the Relationship Between Social Media Use and Early Adolescent Body Image”, written by author, Ilyssa P. Salomon. I discussed briefly about Salomon’s work and findings in her thesis. I chose this thesis because I thought that Salomon’s work fit my objectives on my topic, body image and body dissatisfaction in the adolescent females today. In my podcast I didn’t exactly directly quote Salomon, but the sentence’s that I want to credit to Salomon are, “This study explored how the amount of time spent using social media and the specific behaviors used on social media, namely behaviors that involve self-objectification, were related to early adolescents’ body image (i.e., body shame and body surveillance).” (Salomon, 2017). I also mentioned non-directly from Salomon’s thesis, “The Selfie Generation: Examining the Relationship Between Social Media Use and Early Adolescent Body Image”, that Salomon states, “Three types of social media popular among adolescents were examined: Twitter, Facebook, and
For centuries, humans have used their interaction with one another to help shape outsiders' perceptions of them. Often communication experts refer to this as constructing one’s “social identity.” For many years, this projection of self-came through interpersonal communication; face-to-face communication or other forms of personal interaction. In the progress of technology, this development of one’s personal attributes has come to include photographs, letters, published and unpublished writings, and physical attributes. Many aspects of a person’s “identity” as others see it are difficult and almost impossible to define. In the modern age, such vague characteristics are both helped and hindered by using social media and the internet to “construct”
Technology is one of life’s most impressive and incredible phenomena’s. The main reason being the shockingly high degree to which our society uses technology in our everyday lives. It occupies every single realm, affecting people both positively and negatively. There are so many different forms of technology but the two most often used are cell phones, and the internet/computers in general. Today’s younger generation was raised alongside technological development. Kids now a days learn how to operate computers and cell phones at a very early age, whether it be through their own technological possessions, a friend’s, or their parents. They grow up knowing how easily accessible technology is, and the endless amount of ways in which it can be used. This paper will be largely focused on the effects of technology on the younger generation because your childhood is when these effects have the largest impact. I am very aware of the subject because I am the younger generation. Aside from major effects on study and communication skills, there also exist the media’s effects on teen’s self-esteem and mental health. Maybe more importantly, there is our world’s growing problem of over priced and unnecessary consumerism. Over time, our society has created a very unhealthy form of reliance and dependency on technology as a whole. People essentially live through their devices. Cell phones are always with people making it nearly impossible to not be able to reach someone at anytime, day or night. In 2011, there were 2.4 trillion text messages sent, and 28,641 cell phone towers were added across the US. 1 We use our phones and Internet for directions, communication, information, self-diagnosis, games, movies, music, schoolwork, work, photos, shoppi...
Several decades ago, communications philosopher Marshall McLuhan spoke about the development of the Global Village and how the evolution of new technologies would help connect people on opposite sides of the world, creating online communities that would break boundaries and borders. While this change has been recognized, so too has the idea explored by his successors in which while individuals were expected to look at others in the world through a telescope, they have alternatively developed the tendency to look at themselves through a microscope. As the era of worldwide connectivity began, so did the era of ‘me, me, me’. Both the hardware and the software of the new millennium, inclusive of the iPhone’s forward-facing camera, and apps that allow one to fix blemishes and whiten teeth, have adapted to allow this change to an inward focus. While this has certainly caught on, it has also begun to cause a lot of problems. The act of posting about the self began to be seen as a negatively self-centered one when Facebook NewsFeeds were filled with egotistic stories and ‘Selfies,’ photos of the self. Shortly after, the application Instagram was created, where the occurrence of the Selfie was magnified to a greater degree. This intensive focus inward, and the way these pieces of media are shared, have made some individuals reliant on the positive expressions of others for self-confidence and social approval. When self-esteem is intertwined with how many ‘likes’ a photo gets on a mobile application, we start to see a shift in how self-awareness is formed, what people will do for this approval, and how some will react to a lack of attention.
Photography has created an outlet for the masses to story tell. It has a way of speaking without words like most art forms and is a manner of expression in itself. To eradicate photography from humans would be equivalent to taking away a limb from humankind. Our society has grown an immense amount of dependency on it. Photography has become almost a daily menial task such as brushing your teeth; where we must take pictures of the things we deem important or equally unimportant, even more so with the invention of social media outlets such as Instagram and Snapchat, where photography is the main source of communication between people who use them. Susan Sontag offers the basis of what taking pictures can undertake in both our daily lives and moments that are not part of our daily lives, such as travel. Traveling to places where one is not accustomed can flare pent up anxiety. A way to subdue that anxiety could be through taking pictures, since it’s the only factor that we have total control over in a space where we don’t have much, or, any control of our surrounding environment. On the other hand, taking photos can also be a tool of power in the same sense as it allows for it to be a defense against anxiety. With the camera in our hands, we have the power to decide who, what, where, when, and why we take a picture. This in turn also gives the person who took the picture power over those who later analyze the photos, letting them decide the meaning of the photo individually, despite the intended or true meaning.