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Social Media Have we lost our individuality? Communication is an essential part of our everyday human life, from drawing on a wall in a cave to now sending an email or a text message. I have chosen to write my essay on the effects social media has on all our lives. It has been said that the one thing in society that can survive a nuclear attack is individuality? Well that may have been true until the world of social media took over our lives. Why do we depend so much on it?
What is it that fascinates us about what other people are wearing, eating ND where they are going on holiday? The reason it fascinates us so much is because it’s there right in front of us for all to see and we don’t even care who sees it. Well if 341,543 people like it then it must be good! Welcome to the world of Faceable, the social network where flirting with that person you like is Just one click away, where you can advertise your business for free and where all the latest trends are Just a click away.
Even before I sat down to write this essay I had to have my “Faceable fix” it’s sad but true that I couldn’t sit down for an our without checking what all my friends where up to first (and to be honest it was no different than yesterday). Since Faceable entered our lives we no longer think for ourselves. Well maybe we do but we have to check first that its popular on Faceable because god forbid we actually like something that millions of other people don’t like. When did we all become sheep? When did one simple blue button with a thumb icon take over and rule our lives?
Well I have news for you it’s all fake!! Somewhere out there right now either sat at home or in a tiny office hundreds of underpaid workers re sat at a desk clicking away with fake profiles increasing the company’s” likes”. For as little as EYE. 99 companies are buying 500 likes. It’s as simple as a Google search. You can now buy guaranteed Faceable fans. These sites promise to increase your fan base. They promise to give your business a reputable image by promoting your page and giving it the likeable and popularity that we all seen to trust is legitimate.
Vive done it myself Vive seen two similar pages and I obviously went or the one with the most “likes” You’re probably wondering what difference a “like” makes. The answer is a massive difference. We are brainwashed into thinking that if a page selling cupcakes has over 5000 “likes” then it is a well-established business when it is probably someone making cakes from their own kitchen probably while cooking their kid’s tea, who has downloaded a fancy image from Google images. According to BBC News 11 July 2013 Faceable revealed that up to 6% of its users are fake, representing up to 54 million profiles. 4 MILLION PROFILES!!!! How are we that blind that we can’t spot it ourselves? Every day I come across numerous “boutiques” sending me friend quests trying to sell me there “limited one off items of clothing” it doesn’t take a genius to upload there fancy images into Google Search and see that there “one of a kind” dresses are being mass manufactured in a warehouse in China for less than half the price. But the truth is there are people out there that do fall for it and these “businesses” no it.
The fact of all this is we no longer think for ourselves our whole attitude is “well if she’s wearing it then it must be good” “OMG have you seen what Little Mix are wearing? ” The above quote is one I hear far too often from my 9 year old Daughter. Two years ago I got her an pad (well Father Christmas did). It seemed like a nice thing to do at the time. Since then I have slowly noticed her growing up. I understand that this was bound to happen sooner or later but not at such a young age. I allowed her to have an Mainstream page.
This is a site where she can follow all her favorite singers and actors and upload pictures of herself and the things she likes such as her dog and cats and at the same time change the appearance of how the picture looks. Well that’s how it started off. I recently went through her Mainstream pictures and I have deiced that at the start she uploaded pictures of cute cats and puppies with the hast #stonecutter and #adorable. Now her Mainstream is full of pictures of herself with make up on that she has copied from a “how to look like Little Mix” tutorial.
I suppose I shouldn’t complain it could be worse she could of followed a “how to look like Marylyn Manson” tutorial. But the point is she is 9 and already trying to be like someone else. She hasn’t found her own style and already is trying to be like someone else. Her pad is full of all sorts of APS that change her appearance. She has APS that she can upload a picture of her face and give herself a makeover on. APS that also erase any blemishes she has using the “beautify’ button. As I keep highlighting she is 9!!
She already is beautiful she doesn’t have any blemishes or need to beautify herself but according to her now she does. Every picture she uploads now has somehow been edited. Her eyes have been made bluer; her gorgeous porcelain skin now has a suntan. And she’s not the only child in the world to be brainwashed into thinking that “this is how they should look” 17% of children teen the ages of 10-16 say Mainstream is the most important social media network. I can only put this down to the fact that this is the only network that allows us to make ourselves look better.
However, teens are the main source of addiction spending up to 8 hours a day on social media sites. They are spending too much time on social media because they are chatting with their friends and searching for unnecessary people which prevent them from studying. Teens like to socialize with social media, instead of playing hop scotch, Kirby and rounder’ in the street and eating exercise, which shows that they are getting lazier you don’t hear of kids asking for bikes and scooters or slides and swings for the garden anymore.
Instead it’s pad’s, laptops and Oxbow. This should all be stopped before it all escalates to become a huge pack of very lazy people. There is a great concern children of a young age being on social media leading to negative self-esteem, resulting in depression and unfortunately, suicides amongst teens. We all have something about us that we would like to make bigger, smaller or brighter but at such a young age is this right? Wait there let me Just check us in” Since the world of social media took over our lives nothing has become private or sacred.
I log on to Faceable on a Saturday night and my news feed is full of places where my friends have checked in. Mainstream is full of photos and the exact location and time they were taken at with them. I see people checking in at the airport telling everyone that they are going on holiday and then pictures of them the next day sipping cocktails by the pool. They may as well leave there front door open for everyone to come in and take what they want. My friends go on nights out and update their status to tell us all how much of a good time they’re having.
Town is now full of people standing around on their phone, either looking at other peoples profiles or updating their own. What has happened to us all? Social media is an easy way for us all to socialize because we can connect with our friends no matter how far apart we are from them. But that doesn’t mean we have to broadcast everything to them. After doing my research for this essay I have now decided that social media has taken over us as individuals and is a complete waste of time. The fun that social Edie once had has now gone.
Gone are the days that we actually went to SEE our friends, gone are the days we went out and spent hours trying on clothes with our friends before going back to the first shop we went in a bought that item. We are all living two lives. One physically and one digitally. We are all being digitally socially conditioned. People are using social media to dictate what’s hot and what’s not. We use Faceable “likes” to say what clothes are nice and what bars are trendy. Because of this we are all losing our individuality. We are being torn apart in a digital space ND it is affecting how we act in a physical world.
On Faceable friends and family will like and comment on photos they like of you and statuses they find funny or agree with. It’s sad but true and I for one fall into this category, but it’s a way of confirming to ourselves that what we are doing is right and accepted by people in our digital and physical world. No matter where you go you will always see a “like us on Faceable” sticker. Our physical world is gradually starting to turn digital. We are forgetting we can actually have real life conversations with people and not Just through social Edie.
Nothing in your digital life is private; friends of friends will leak your updates. Corrections are catching people out at work who are calling in work sick, as you’re so called friends are screenwriting your status updates before you realized what you have done and deleted it. Social media has now took over our lives that much that we can’t even get into bed with out “checking in my big comfy bed” and or even checking our newsfeed before going asleep. I wake up of a morning and see people’s status from am saying they can’t sleep? Well get of Faceable and maybe you’ll be able too!