The Social Media Revolution
The Social Media Revolution As the discovery of fire and the wheel forever changed our society and culture; as the farming and domestication of animals changed the structure of the society and the landscape itself; as the Industrial Revolution forever changed society dynamics; so is the new technological era changing our culture, society and behavior patterns.
The new social media revolution comes with its challenges; however, I believe that if we take the time to understand how it affects our behavior, we can better put it to use for the benefit of the entire world population. From a psychological point of view the media has changed our society in more ways than one, and further research continues to uncover consequences of media on our society and psyche. From manipulating our own identity on the social networks, to the levels of content that brings us; from modifying our behavior in order to be accepted, to the illusion of companionship; or from the false feeling we are constantly connected and belong to a group, when in reality we are more alone than ever before. Are we who we really claim to be on the social networks? Eric Cherpit recognizes that “We are able to construct oneself in any way imaginable when we participate in the online interactive media”. (Who Are You? And Who Are You On The Internet?). The nature of the online media has allowed for unlimited possibilities to create an avatar, a mirror image, of ourselves however we see fit and in countless different ways. I believe is our subconscious that allows for this deviation from reality and pushes us in creating an ideal self, someone that we aspire to be. We adopt a celebrity culture in our ordinary life by allowing the creation of ideal images of self. Methods used in creating our ideal avatar are pictures altered through computer manipulation, by revising our post for political accuracy or by choosing who to make friends with on our fantasy make-believe page. Another study shows that
The new social media revolution comes with its challenges; however, I believe that if we take the time to understand how it affects our behavior, we can better put it to use for the benefit of the entire world population. From a psychological point of view the media has changed our society in more ways than one, and further research continues to uncover consequences of media on our society and psyche. From manipulating our own identity on the social networks, to the levels of content that brings us; from modifying our behavior in order to be accepted, to the illusion of companionship; or from the false feeling we are constantly connected and belong to a group, when in reality we are more alone than ever before. Are we who we really claim to be on the social networks? Eric Cherpit recognizes that “We are able to construct oneself in any way imaginable when we participate in the online interactive media”. (Who Are You? And Who Are You On The Internet?). The nature of the online media has allowed for unlimited possibilities to create an avatar, a mirror image, of ourselves however we see fit and in countless different ways. I believe is our subconscious that allows for this deviation from reality and pushes us in creating an ideal self, someone that we aspire to be. We adopt a celebrity culture in our ordinary life by allowing the creation of ideal images of self. Methods used in creating our ideal avatar are pictures altered through computer manipulation, by revising our post for political accuracy or by choosing who to make friends with on our fantasy make-believe page. Another study shows that
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