Social Media And Its Effect On Self Image

Twenge is a textbook genre. This genre helps Twenge appeal to students in school because mostly school students read textbooks which is a large variety of people. In this article Twenge describe a mother born during the baby boomers era and her daughter who was born during the real “Generation Me.” Twenge says that the mother’s era thought they were the real Me Decade until Generation Me came along. The claim that she seems to make in this article is that people born in the “Generation Me” era believe everything revolves around them. One way that Twenge further explains this is through several examples of ethos. Twenge use two different generations to get show the differences between them both. She showcases the mother’s generation as being group oriented such as doing yoga together, attending seminars and, protesting with one another. Then she depicts the daughter’s generation as being self-oriented. She does this by giving us an idea of what the daughter wants to do with her life which is being a model or singer, take selfies, and acquire 5,000 Instagram followers. All these things that the daughter describes are the characteristics of someone who only thinks about themselves. Twenge talks about how everything that the people during the era talk about is themselves. For instances, Twenge says, “Today’s young people speak the language of their self as the native tongue” (“Introduction” Twenge 73). Twenge is saying that the only way young people know how to talk is if it is about themselves. This quote further explains how “Generation Me” only cares about themselves. Twenge use ethos to persuade her audience into thinking that this generation is truly self-centered.

In the book, Generation Me: Why today's young Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled and more miserable than ever before, author-researcher Jean Twenge explores the nature of the Generation Y, people who were born in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The phenomenon that Twenge sought to explore in detail was how the Generation Y became the "Entitlement Generation" or, as she eventually coined the term, the "Generation Me." From the title itself, she described the Generation Me as a group of individuals who are "confident, assertive, entitled" but "miserable." Indeed, the book's thesis highlights how the youth of Generation Me are highly individualist and primarily centers on the "self." As in the words of Twenge, ""¦GenMe doesn't just question authority we disrespect it entirely" (28). This statement ultimately sums up the GenMe's attitude and viewpoint about respecting institutions, traditions, beliefs and values that held previous generations and societies together.

Nowadays, some people have strong opinions on the increasingly problems caused by the Generation Me because of their high self-esteem. Jean Twenge analyzes the self-esteem in her essay “An Army of One: Me”, and she sheds light on the difference between baby boomers and the generation me, making us to rethink why self-esteem is such a severe problem to the generation me, but benefit the boomers. Though it may sounds hard to understand what causes the difference, but by viewing Maggie Nelson’s essay “Great to Watch”, we can get some new ideas. Nelson points out the importance of making “slow thinking”, which means thinking carefully before rush into taking actions. The reason behind slow thinking is that people are too easy to be distracted from

This generational gap was what altered the development of real learning, for it allowed Generation Me children to assume that hard work was not needed to succeed and to learn. Due to the different mindset that was developed through the gap, self-esteem was not lacking in GenMe. So, it is understandable why Boomers felt that an individual should be more important than society. They had to go through life fighting for what they believed in, causing what Tannen calls the “human spirit” to take the blow (Tannen, 419). She states, “contentious public discourse becomes a model for behavior and sets the tone for how individuals experience their relationship to others and the society we live in” (Tannen, 419). Baby Boomers did not have self-esteem so they enforced it on their children, keeping them from ever feeling that way. The cause of them feeling this way is that “the human brain is almost infinitely malleable” (Carr, 70). That malleability was used by Baby Boomer parents in order for them to set a sense of self-esteem and individualism in their children. This alteration of their children’s minds was Boomer parents’ first mistake, for it did not allow children to discover their own worth. Rather, it supplied them with false encouragement, and prevented the possibility of engaging themselves in a society where everyone works together and is confident, but not individualistic.

In the short piece, “An Army of One: Me,” written by Jean Twenge, there is an issue that is not only evident in today’s society, but in one that started well before the contemporary times. We relate these matters to the generation of baby boomers and also currently labeled, Generation Me. Generation Me is often criticized in having little to no self-esteem. Because of the prior generations, the word self-esteem seems to be brought up quite often in this passage. There has been a strong focus on mental health of a child growing through school and seems to be affecting their outcome as well as ability to learn. We live in a world where there is a push for the better of people, more so the consiouness of idividuality. Twenge inserts a lyric by Whitney Houton stating, “learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all time (756).” Twenge inserts this quote because of the issue brught up in the world today, the lack of Self esteem. What does it mean to have self and how does self-impact students today and beyond? To have self, it simply means how that person builds self-growth, an education and in real life realtionships. This certainly has a direct correlation and impact on how students experience in school and in real world living.

Clarissa Silva article in the Huffington Post delves into social media’s impact on self-esteem. As a behavioral scientist, her interest in the matter relates to her field. She also gets the help of other experts Dr. Jennifer Rhodes, Natalia Lusinski, and Dr. Suzana Flores to help with her research. Silva states that “social media is linked to higher levels of loneliness, envy, anxiety, depression, narcissism and decreased social skills" (1). Then outlines her research findings using rhetorical appeals.

There are currently six living generations in the United States, each with different characteristics, beliefs, and values. The things that define each generation’s culture are derived from their history, upbringing, and the lifestyle of their time. Our generation was born between 1980 and 2000. We are called Millennials. More specifically, we grew up in the South, which typically lends itself to being more conservative and religious. These characteristics, along with our instant gratification attitude, define who we are, what we believe, and how we view other generations. For example, we might have differing views with the Silent Generation. Some Millennials may feel the Silent Generation’s social, religious, and economic conservatism is outdated.

Howe, Neil, and William Strauss. Millennials Rising: the Next Great Generation. New York: Vintage, 2000.

Jean Twenge writes three different articles talking about what she describes as Generation Me. Being a part of this “Generation Me” culture Twenge describe I find some of her arguments factual. In these essays Twenge uses a different rhetorical style and genre to persuade her audience. Twenge’s articles “Introduction,” “Generation Me on Trial,” and “Personality Processes and Individual Differences” contain ethos, logos, and pathos. She makes good use of the characteristics, mainly in her article “Generation Me on Trial.”

I feel that if it is necessary to have a generation tell us who we are then I would be fine with it, but I do not feel that we need to have a generation that defines us. For example, the years 1930’s thought 1960’s there are some big historical event like the Great Depression, World War II, and Vietnam, those people that were born those years have a bond because they all share their knowledge and experience through those years and are named the silent generation/ baby boomers generation. On 1998 Jerald Wallulis, wrote The New Insecurity: The End of the Standard Job and Family and say in his book that “The 80’s and 90’s has shifted the way their identity from marriage and employment to marriageability and employability.” And Hochschild says on her essay that “that is like their World War II and Vietnam.”

There are currently six living generations in the United States, each with different characteristics, beliefs, and values. The things that define each generation’s culture are derived from their history, upbringing, and the lifestyle of their time. Our generation was born between 1980 and 2000. We are called Millennials. We grew up in a technologically savvy world and have a high demand for instant gratification. More specifically, we grew up in the South, which typically lends itself to being more conservative, based on a stricter religious upbringing. These characteristics, along with others, define who we are, what we believe, and how we view other generations.

In this day and age, social media has become an integral part of our lives. It has created a platform for people to share information instantly and communicate with people all around the world. Facebook is the most outstanding example of successful social media network. According to the first quarter 2015 earnings announcement by Facebook, the site has achieved 1.44 billion active users per month, and 65% of which are daily active users. Other social networking sites such as Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn are also a powerful means of communication. With such a large audience, social networking sites provide ample opportunities to acquire information, network, and connect with friends.

Today there are millions of active users on Instagram. This social media app can post pictures, share videos, and message friends. This app also helps Americans form expressions without words so there are no clear interpretations by users. These pictures can be seen and talked about around the world. Americans do not realize that Instagram impacts user’s formulation of self-image, life quality, and invades privacy.

In today’s society, the public is exposed to technology at even younger ages than ever before. Everywhere you go these days you see kids even as little as three holding their parent’s phones or even their own, watching videos or playing games. But as said in the article Does Social media impact on body image by Philippa Roxby, as kids start becoming teenagers their technological uses advance and they start to rely on social media sites for new sources of communication, and their main channel to the outside world. Based on studies conducted by psychologists they have come up with a conclusion that social media has a direct relationship to body image concerns. I believe that in today’s society we should focus on promoting self-confidence as most of the adolescents have a very low assurance of their own bodies. Although a study conducted in the article The Upside of Selfies: Social media isn’t all bad for kids by Kelly Wallace says that a survey which resulted in 52% of the teens saying that social media positively influences them. Even though social media platforms have some beneficial aspects such as they make people want to go on diets, exercise, and eating healthy, the teenagers don’t really look/understand the negative aspects of it. The impacts that are carried with social media are mostly negative such as fancying teenagers to lose confidence in themselves and has become a toxic mirror to them. The visual platforms impact

Social Media has a massive impact on a person’s self-presentation because of the different trends where everyone wants to fit in with society’s expectations of what we should look like. Celebrities are made to be our role models, however, magazines photoshop and make them more toned and a lot slimmer, which makes young people want to make their bodies more like theirs. This then leads to the modern generation becoming self-conscious because they feel they have to fit in and achieve an ideal self that fits in with those around them.