Social media, we all know about, we all use it and we have definately heard of its consequences. It makes me you less social, it makes people more insecure and it makes the world a smaller yet more distant place. These are all ideas we've heard around social media throughout the years. Usually (stereotypically) the people advocating for social media are the youth and the people who are wary and hesitant are the older generation. You would often hear the older generation say things like, "You're always sitting on that phone, you don't know what real-life is anymore." We hear this day in and day out. But the day has come when we too are saying this.
We live in a world so small it's unbelieveable. We live in a world so connected it's unbelieveable. It's powerful and with power comes responsibilty and the need for precautions.
We've all heard about the dangers of social media, the subconscious affects it has on people and its influence it has. What makes this different from other forms of media? Or anything in life really. The problem comes in when people don't understand the power they have. On social media people have the ability to portray themselves in any way they feel. They can literally make their own profile made up of somebody elses information. But let's not speak about that, let's get into the way in which people represent and paint their own self-portraits on digital media.
People are by nature self-conscious and easily influenced. With this, people will often choose to show only certain sides of themself to the world. There is nothing wrong with that. The problem comes in when people change themself and portray a different person on their online profiles to who they are in real life. The problem comes in when they are essentially two people. What happens? They begin to believe their online version of themself rather than their real self? But that begs the question, is there harm in this?
What if someone uses this to benefit themself. For example they would like to change who they are, they would like to grow. So they set out to change their portrayal and self-portrait on digital media into this new person. And from this they change. Is there anything concerning about this?
In the end, just like everything in life, it's about responsibilty and knowing why you are doing something. It's your life do as you wish, but be aware of the consequences.