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Aspirations of people lost in social media
What do you think about most people's aspirations today? With social media - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, etc. - becoming more prominent by the second, to the point where it's a vital part of society, women and men are posting pictures, videos, statuses, and anything they can to receive validation from others.
With women specifically, are they always looking for attention from men and if so is this generation's behavior what we can expect for the rest of our lives? The kind of substantiation that is like dopamine to the brain but with no purpose and leaves people striving for nothing but favorites and likes: but to what end? |
Well, studies have hinted that this generation is one of the more arrogant ones. With Facebook, whenever you say something, you expect people to pay attention to it and like or comment on it simply because you said it.
When I see some of my facebook friends making 10+ status updates a day, it makes me wonder how they view themselves. It's almost like they need the constant attention of others in order to make themselves feel okay. It's fine making a status once a day, or something, but when you're posting about how you can't think of anything to post (this actually happened), it just makes you seem desperate for attention. As far as the rest of our lives go, I'm not sure. At this point, I'm not sure of this is something we'll simply out grow, or if we will still be avid facebookers when we're seventy. Well, not all of us will be, but for the most part. I personally make a trip to facebook about once a day just to browse, and I haven't made a status update in months, so I'm having a bit of trouble getting inside the minds of people who can't stop post pictures. |
I'm always strictly anti- the idea that this generation is so much worse or so much different than all other generations. I'm fairly certain that these conversations happened throughout human history, from "Why are these kids so obsessed with independence? They're so arrogant, in my time I was happy to have a leader looking out for me!" to "Why are these kids so obsessed with electricity? They're so lazy, why aren't they happy with lighting candles and lamps?" The only difference is the object or concept that causes the cries of lazy/entitled/arrogant/irrevocably destroyed.
Sure, social media has changed society. So did cars, and so did the telephone, but no one today is writing thoughtful pieces on whether or not those technologies have made us worse people and whether or not we'd be better off without them, because they've integrated into society. In about 10 years, social media will have integrated to the point that the new thing that makes the teenagers terrible people is something we can't conceive of yet, like a device that transcribes your every word to the cloud or something. Likes have always existed, and all the drama associated with social media has existed as well - refusing to be seen in public with a "friend", counting how many people are coming to your parties or how many people laugh at your jokes, complaining to too many people personal things about your love life, all these things existed before. They were just transferred to the digital. There's also an argument to be made that allowing young women complete control over their own image upends the societal norms of women's bodies as public property, empowering them through something so basic as being able to put forward pictures of themselves that they like. One of my friends is a transgender woman and as she was beginning her transition the thing that made her feel the best about herself was taking selfies; she could see how her transition was coming along nicely and see herself as feminine. It certainly empowered her. |
The flipside is people posting pictures not so much because they like it, but more importantly because others do. On balance, I would say it leans more to this side.
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isn't a forum a social media platform? What we're doing here is not so drastically different... and it's not solely to receive validation from others, maybe people are genuinely interested in each other? idk just a thought
When you play video games or watch TV is that not simply an aimless way to waste time, and as you put it, get some dopamine with no purpose. Some people just prefer to use FB as their way to kill the day, it's not really fair to look down at them for it. We all have our mindless pleasures; there's no leg to stand on unless you spend the majority of your day working out, practicing a wide range of skills and using your time to efficiently better yourself physically and mentally. Even if you did possess the body and spirit of an ancient Greek Hero, maybe you're still not so great if you''re judging other people for their own personal & harmless activities Quote:
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Let's be clear about something. "Drama" and desire for social acceptance and validation are nothing new, and when moderated are not inherently unhealthy. However, social media (and technology generally) is very much a new beast, in a fundamental way: accessibility.
In our informational society, we have constant, immediate access to these technologies. Before, you'd have to call someone up or visit them to receive the validation and interaction you seek. Which, if nothing else, meant that this interaction was not available 24/7, because people generally sleep at night, and you either aren't able or aren't allowed to go certain places very late at night, or very early in the morning. I'm not arguing that technology is the devil. It is clear and obvious that this newly emerging societal structure has enormous potential benefit, greater even than the benefits of industrialization. In a word: crowdsourcing. There is so much data being generated, and the entirety of it is instantly accessible from anywhere in the world. But there is a dialectic of progress: because of the always available 'omnipresence' of social media, it has the potential to become a life-altering, life-destroying addiction in an unprecedented fashion. For one thing, the frequency of light emitted from these screens that we can't take our eyes off of is disruptive to the body's sleep cycle, because it stimulates the brain into a more wakeful state. Proper rest is foundational to healthy functioning. Add this to this to the constant ego-stroking made possible by social media, and you've got a brand-new designer drug, a perfect recipe for addiction, and all perfectly sanctioned and encouraged by capitalism, ready to unravel society. Clearly, this thing is dangerous, as well as beneficial. And the point I'm making is that the benefits and dangers are both much greater than just about anything we have seen before. We simply cannot equate it with anything that has come before because it is fundamentally different from everything that has come before. Thankfully, there are some fairly simple things we can do to keep technology use from becoming unhealthy and destructive, the most obvious of which is moderation. We also need education and awareness, because what we are seeing is a movement away from moderate usage, and towards chronic excessive use. This is especially true of the younger generation, which has the added potential danger of preventing them from engaging in their development (kinesthetic development for certain, and cognitive, moral, and interpersonal development as well depending on how a person spends their time when using technology). Along those same lines, and in relation to the seeking of approval that was mentioned, I think one of the most important things that people can learn to do is to be satisfied with the present moment. We are constantly seeking, constantly unsatisfied. When the glass of water is in our hand, we want it to be at our lips. When it gets there, we want the water to already be in our stomach. We are never satisfied with what is actually in front of us. The human condition is to constantly turn away from this present moment, in hopes that the next one might be better. And the bitter irony is twofold. When that moment "gets here" it is still the present moment... and it is still not good enough. The mind is still spinning its story, still telling you that you need more; the human mind is truly a blessing and a curse. And I think it should be obvious that this constant dissatisfaction, this constant void we are creating within ourselves by our seeking, is contributing the overconsumption of social media. Given the already enormously destructive potential of this overconsumption, it is imperative that we learn to live consciously. Which, among other things, entails being aware of the ego and its pitiful stories, and resting as the space and stillness in which all the monkey chatter is arising. |
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