Does the amount of likes or attention you receive on social media make you feel like you’re better than the next person? Do you let social media control how high your self esteem/confidence is? Do you only exist on the web and go missing in reality?
Social media has become a way of life and that’s understandable, it’s needed. It keeps you up to date on the events occurring around the world. Also it’s a good place to keep in touch with old/lost friends.
It’s the other part of social media that I don’t like. The part that breeds insecurity and social rankings.
Throwback 2015, someone saw me and said I looked nice then went on to ask me how many likes I get on Instagram. I didn’t pay it much thought and replied with ‘I don’t use Instagram’, which I didn’t at the time. I then left and examined it. The person asked to see if my outfits and Instagram likes equate to each other and if they didn’t? What then? Would the person have ignored me if I said ‘oh around 20 likes and sometimes I don’t even get into double figures’? I felt like I would have been more appealing. Viewed as a potential friend because of my Instagram likes and not what I stand for and that was funny to me.
People have began to judge life off social media fame and hype but that doesn’t last for ever. People make a living off it and that’s good. If you’re buying a camera so your Instagram feed can ‘bang’ then I’m sorry, you’re a lost individual. If taking quality pictures helps you make money through Instagram then I understand. It is a platform you can use to promote yourself/your business. But if you do not fall into that category, you need to reevaluate your life.
The show ‘Black Mirror’ explored this. It went into detail of how social media as a platform could shape our environment in the future. Social media ranking affected the jobs, friendships and lifestyle you could attain. The house you live in, relationships (potential partner) and more were judged by this.
It was based around a ranking out of 5.0 and the higher you are up the ranking, the better the job, better the house you live in. Simply put, the better the opportunities that come your way. On the other end of the stick, the lower you are means you could lose your job, your house or friend. You need to be a certain number on the social media ranking to be employed by a big company. For example a ranking of 2.4 might be good enough for you to be a waiter but 2.5 will make you the chef. It was that tight and people ranked each other. So someone could give you a rating of 1.0 just because you didn’t wave as you walked by them.
People chose not to associate with others as they had a poor social ranking and do we not see this around us? This then drives the main character to great lengths to rebuild her ranking.
This is what I feel like we are heading towards. The new age of social media determining how we live, who does what and the lengths people are willing to go. The episode was on the third season and it is the first episode, it’s titled ‘Nosedive’.
Imagine the day the ruler of a country is decided over how high your popularity is. Then again America just elected a reality show star as their president so I guess the end isn’t too far.
Social media is needed but don’t get lost in all that buffoonery. Not all rappers live their raps and not all Instagram celebs live their feed (lol). Learn to separate real life from online, don’t get it twisted. Or else, it’s a slippery slope and Snapchat is adding to that but we’ll get to that another day.
Hak Gway
POTS 