Social Media Reflection

Rachel Ehmke addresses the negative effects of social media in a strident, yet true, way. The use of social media among teens in America is 75 percent and out of that percentage 68 percent use Facebook more than any other site or app (Common Sense Media, as cited by Ramasubbu, 2016, p.1). According to Suren Ramasubbu in his article “Influence of Social Media on Teenagers”, Facebook is an outlet for depression, sexting, and cyberbullying (2016, p.1). Ehmke points these effects as well to support her opinion along with other effects like indirect communication, loss of experiences, the imposter syndrome, and stalking. It can be concluded that the reasons provided by Ehmke are valid reasons to prove why social media can affect a person negatively.

“People can take their time when posting information about themselves, carefully selecting what aspects they would like to emphasize (Gonzales 80).” By controlling what information and self-attributes to share with the online world, an individual may present an idealized version of self that would not align with societal perceptions in the face-to-face interactions. Furthermore, Gonzales notes that recent research in computer-mediated communications suggests that online self-presentations can alter self-perceptions (80). As Orenstein says, “I tweet, therefore I am.” The online presentations of self can become the reality, or idealized reality, of the

The article “Examining Students’ Intended Image on Facebook: ‘What Were They Thinking?!’” by Joy Peluchette and Katherinne Karl focuses on their research on the reasoning behind the inappropriate Facebook posts of college students. After their research they conclude that the posts of students completely depends on the specific way the student wants to illustrate themselves to their intended audience. Peluchette and Karl strengthen their argument with frequent use of various statistics and transition words; however, they weaken their argument with choosing a topic that can not be fully prove and the lack of in-depth thinking.

When I was 16 years old, I spent a summer at a Christian camp as a server. Although I was excited at first, I was nervous because while at the camp, you were not allowed to have your phone. The first couple days were hard, I struggled with the idea that I couldn’t talk to my friends all the time, but by the time the camp was over, I lost my desire to use my phone. Even after I left the camp, I began to use my phone less and less. I was able to put my phone down for hours at a time without having the desire or need to check on it. It wasn’t until college that I started to be on my phone all the time again. The fact that I was once again away from my friends and family created a constant desire to be on my phone to keep tabs on them. When I joined a sorority freshman year, all of our announcements and information about events were posted on facebook which made me redownload facebook and become addicted like I was in middle school. I am constantly checking all forms of social media several times a day because in my mind I am “in the know” and have a firm grasp of what is going on with my life. On Tuesday, November 14th I decided to download the app and have it track my media use for a few days before I did the social media fast. I found that I was on my phone for about 4 hours a day and had about 115 pickups. I wish I could say I was shocked, but because I am constantly checking facebook for sorority updates and talking to my friends via text and snapchat, I am not surprised

[CE] There is beauty with everything that we do and why not technology as a reflection of our self representation. We take a picture of ourselves and post it on social media apps like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to show an experience or current state we are in. We write blogs to express our thoughts and views online so others will see what we are thinking. This paper simply explains why and how individuals take advantage of their sources in this case, technology and shape themselves and create a name for themselves.

In which I say is the tipping point in where the idea of showing your best assets online came to be. Creating a perfect profile with the trendiest bathroom mirror selfie and having the power of an exclusive top 8 list was a huge deal to a teen living in the early 2000s. As years grew by, the ability to record, snap, send and post became at such ease. I was among many other people who were sucked into this lifestyle. I always had an act for photography, I self-taught and gained loved creating something and anything through this media. I’ve put tremendous effort into taking pictures of experiences or what I had for dinner last night and shared them on Instagram and Snapchat; Gaining quite a following for me. Unfortunately as talented as I am, this sycophant ego developed underneath it all. In between my actions, I was gloating to friends on how much ‘likes’ I racked up on a certain photo. Other times, where I would catch myself saying to friends, “hey I noticed you haven’t been showing me any love (like) on my IG pictures.” Cringing as it sounds, those actually words have come out of my mouth. This culture has turned me this servant to please people’s admiration towards my photos. I was constantly posting just to gain more like, to gaining more followers and up my ranking in the popularity

On social media, I’m very cautious with what I put out there for a multitude of reasons. Looking back at my last fifteen tweets, about eight of those tweets are Van Meter related, which most tend to be about success of Van Meter sports(final scores of our games or news coverage). Two of the tweets are happy birthday tweets, wishing Connor Guess and Drew Gordon a happy birthday, and I inserted a few pictures of us to go along with it. The remaining five tweets are sports related, with four of them being motivational stories about athletes, and the other one referencing the video game Madden. The other thing that stands out to me on social media now that I think about it, is who I am following and who is following me. I can honestly say that a good amount of people that follow me, around

Communication barriers are not the only issue that has been brought on by social media. Extensive social media use has also been known to affect a person’s self-esteem. Some individuals suffer from a low self-esteem and limit themselves to social media in hopes to create a different image of them. According to Charles Cooley, “The thing that moves us to pride or shame is not the mere mechanical reflection of ourselves, but an imputed sentiment, the imagined effect of this reflection upon another's mind" (Morine, 2009). For some teens and young adults, social media may help them open up and achieve a higher self-esteem. On the other hand, social media on other teens and young adults may have a completely opposite effect. In an article titled, Is Facebook Making Your Child Depressed, it is stated that social media websites such as Facebook “can create a skewed reality that makes teens feel alienated” (PR, 2012). When a person, that is not completely happy with their life, goes onto social media and reads all about other people enjoying a multitude of activities and enjoying their lives this could

Online social networks have become increasingly populated arenas for much of today’s population, especially with regards to high school and college students. Networks such as Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Vine, Twitter, etc., enable users to create an identity and present it to others by allowing them to share various aspects of their lives. Because individuals select their own content, the resulting representation can be either a true or imaginative reflection of the user. The attitudes, perspectives, behaviours and actions each individual chooses to present, shape their identity within the social media universe. Like most other web-based content, the pursuit of authenticity is assumed to be at the heart of these social media networks, playing an important role in our online interactions and our decisions about what web content we believe to be reliable. But, what about when the network structure allows users to create, post, and interact with anonymous identities? Anonymity eliminates the need decipher authenticity, however, it creates an issue by protecting the negative actions of empowered users.

Living in the 21st century requires one to stay current with latest technological advancements. Ever since the development of social networking sites, people are now able to create a carefully-crafted identity for themselves. This has led psychologists to question how well these online personalities match the person in front of the computer. The innovative branch of media psychology looks into how social networking portrays individuals and initiates human interactions within a society.

Social media is one of the biggest and most rapidly evolving platforms through which a diverse spectrum of individuals can communicate. Beginning with the first versions of Facebook, Twitter and MySpace in the early 2000s all the way to the Snapchat and Tumblr we are familiar with now—among thousands more—social media impacts millions of people. Recently, teenagers and young adults have begun to use social media not only to connect with others, but also to communicate certain messages about who they are and the lives they live to those who view their profiles. Simply look at the “about” section on a social media profile, and it is evident that most people are very intentional about portraying themselves the way they wish to be seen online. This type of social media use (focused on showing, not just directly communicating) has become much easier and more popular with the introduction of Snapchat “stories,” which are pictures or videos viewable to anyone the user has added for 24 hours. Snapchat stories are broadcasted to one’s entire contact group instead of sent to specific individuals, and they cannot be replied to. Likewise, their temporary nature makes users more likely to upload more per day than they would on other photo-sharing applications like Instagram.

Recent research has documented how technology, and social networking sites (SNS; e.g., Facebook, Instagram) in particular, have given rise to a growing obsession with impression management and self-presentation online. Whether it’s searching for the perfect Instagram photo filter or carefully crafting a humblebrag Facebook status about a recent publication, users frequently engage in selective self-presentation strategies to portray an ‘ideal self’ through social media (Chou & Edge, 2012; Manago, Graham, Greenfield, & Salimkhan, 2008). In turn, we seek out social approval and positive feedback in the form of comments and likes.

One of the wonder of the Internet today is the invention of social media. It allows people from all around the world to come together and share their experiences, their artwork, their lives, their struggles and their triumphs. But is that all we see? Of course not. Not all people share all the details of their lives on social media like Facebook. But what I mean is, is that the real person behind that key board or just persona they have created? Because of the anonymity the internet can provide, it can be difficult to know who you really talking to. It’s hard if you know someone in the real world, but they behave so differently online, making you wonder if you really know that person. Some people who possibly have a number of different personas to fit in to different groups may have an issue finding out who they really are, not sure of their own identity. With all the time some people put into this kind of life style, they can become withdrawn into this world they’ve created for themselves and their communication and interpersonal skills can suffer as well.

The purpose of this research is to determine whether or not social media use impacts one 's ability for what D.A. Norman refers to as "reflective thought;" that is, one 's ability to think deeply by questioning and examining information (45). The research revolves around the following questions: Do we, as social media users, too readily accept what we read online, without challenging or questioning the thoughts of others? Or, does social media use encourage us to think reflectively through the propagation of a broad array of knowledge and opinions that allow us to more accurately develop our own personal beliefs? There is no universal consensus between academics as to the answers to such questions, with some suggesting that social media use has a positive effect on reflective thought and others suggesting it has a negative effect. To illustrate this contentiousness, this essay will rely on research, mostly in the form of studies, from both factions of academics. I will also present two different examples of social media use: in one example, which is drawn from the comment section of a University discussion forum, reflective thinking is encouraged and in the other, which is taken from the comment section of a fraudulent Facebook photograph, reflective thinking is hindered. I will conclude by suggesting that there is no concrete answer as to the impact of social media use on reflective thought; the role it plays depends entirely on the individual and how he or she utilizes the

Women lurk on a man’s page seeking for their materialistic items such as cars, money, and the way a man dresses. Instances such as these causes low self-esteem of individuals who do not portray these specific items or lifestyles on social media. USA Today asked 23 Chicago college students about social media and 20 out of 23 students believed social media caused anxiety or added stress to an individual’s life. One female college student believed that social media adds a lot of pressure to be the perfect person, because that’s how individuals can make themselves look online. A lot of women on social media with low self-esteem issues show their skin and wear revealing outfits to feel “better” about their own body by taking into account how many likes on Instagram or Facebook they receive. The college students have realized it was easy to portray a different version of them on the internet. Individuals believe the number of likes on Facebook/Instagram or retweets on Twitter is used as a tool for verification for acceptance within their group of peers. This can cause a domino effect of problems on an individual’s self-esteem. An individual will post photos that are outside their character just to seek approval through the likes from their peers. This may boost an individual’s self-esteem temporarily, but once he or she logs off social media their self-esteem really hasn’t improved. Valkenbur, P. M., Peter, J., & Shouted, A. P. (2006). Friend