When trying to decide what to write about for this week’s blog post I thought I might look at the ever popular, Facebook. As much as I enjoy this social media platform to communicate and share photos with friends and family a part of me does think that in a few ways Facebook is doing more harm than good. To begin with, it is a little bit of a distraction. Especially if you have ever taken an online course. With the intention of doing a quick flip through the pages of FB, somehow I have found myself, 45 minutes later reading the expense reports of our member’s of parliament (this video accurately describes exactly why that seems to happen!) Okay, Facebook may not be to blame for that one, but there are a few, more serious concerns I thought I would mention.
I struggle with the idea that because we are becoming increasingly geared towards online presence it seems we are simultaneously falling into a world of false identity. There are numerous stories that tell of the pressures felt by social media users to present a flawless digital identity. The article Split Image describes how one young woman struggled so much to live up to this image she had created for herself, that it is thought it may have led her to suicide. Many young adults present their ideal self on places like Facebook using cropped, filtered photos and exaggerated descriptions of achievements. To me, it seems this is becoming somewhat of an obsession among teens and young adults and is playing a major role in the negative body image which can lead to an array of other issues.
In addition, The article Three Big Problems with Facebook Activism points to our tendency to assume that we are in some way advocating for oppressed individuals by “liking” and “sharing” articles that pertain to them. People have become so absorbed in the mass amounts of garbage “news” and ineffective online campaigns that you forget to participate in the real world fight for social justice. So often people are reposting articles and memes or changing their profile picture because it is trendy, and seems to conform to what is happening around them. In many ways, I believe Facebook is giving people a false sense of participation in social justice movements, which, as the article above shows is benefitting their ego more than anything. In addition, it reminds us that neither our own nor are our friend’s posts are completely genuine and more times than not we use this more convenient advocation as a way to comfort ourselves in a world that requires much more active participation.
Lisa Perry's Blog 