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Hannah ReedProfessor BailieEnglish 208915 April 2019Assignment ThreeI love being a college student at the age I am now. I feel like I dodged a bullet of feeling the need to fit in a crowd I never really belonged. At heart, I’m an old soul. My favorite actress is Ginger Rogers. My ideal music is a Patsy Cline soundtrack. I’m simple. In a western, live off the land, cowgirl way. I have never been able to fit the mold of my generation of watching movies like Step Brothers, or TV shows such as South Park and listening to music made for losers. My favorite pastime while waiting for class to start, is watching all the kids now on their phones scrolling through social media like it’s telling them their daily scripture. I’m not trying to be judgmental. To each their own. I live the way I like, and I’m fine with living in the time I do. Although, I’d be lying if I said I don’t often dream of the way life was in the 40’ and 50’s. Every generation has its issues in society. We love to look at the past and judge the issues of a certain time, now it seems like we are fed so much information that even trying to describe a current issue has become a problem. I use social media seldomly. Two years ago, I deleted my Facebook for good. Back in the days of when I was trying to fit the “mold” I had a Twitter. Having a twitter account lasted not even six months for me. I don’t like listening to others opinions and God forbid that I’d have to read it. Facebook lasted much longer than my twitter account. All up until the day I sat back and through the eyes of most likely the 85-year-old woman inside of me and judged the damn thing. I thought to myself “What the hell is this anyway? I log on here to do what exactly, read about people’s lives and every little celebration that happens in their life.” That’s like going to ten family events in a months’ time. That’s purely exhausting for an introvert like me. The constant comparison of my life against theirs. And the audacity of people that loved to rub any little opinion in your face.I thought to myself that day, that even twenty years ago people did just fine with out this shit. So, that day I deleted Facebook and I chose to stay with just my Instagram account. That is what has led me to choose Instagram for my topic of a discourse community. I have been an active user of Instagram since its start in 2010. I was a sophomore in high school. I never thought of Instagram as a competition (like it has become.) This is probably because I have never taken part in any kind of competition in my life because that’s just the person I am. I have always viewed Instagram as my digital scrapbook. I post the content that I will want to see again in ten years. “Enough with the insignificant and over done,” I think at times while scrolling. I have been at peace with Instagram for most of the years of me being an active user. That has all changed recently though. I came across the documentary of Netflix called “Social Animals”. This documentary is an inside look to a few teens lives and the effect that Instagram has had on them. Kaylyn Slevin is the pretty Regina George want to be of this documentary. And of course, according to the American high school rule book she is who everyone wants to be. She has been made even more famous through just posting perfect pretty pictures of her face and her big house on Instagram. What blows my mind is that people religiously like and follow this fake 4150995104775000-35623513144500018592801314450 To the left is Kaylyn Slevin. She has the typical “look” for pictures posted by females on Instagram that are usually trying to sell you makeup, hair products, clothes, ect. On the right is Emma Crockett. Emma represents the average woman as well as the thousands of young teenage girls, who are simply trying to get through the woes of high school. I do not have access to her pictures because Crockett has made her account private and would have to accept for me to follow her.00 To the left is Kaylyn Slevin. She has the typical “look” for pictures posted by females on Instagram that are usually trying to sell you makeup, hair products, clothes, ect. On the right is Emma Crockett. Emma represents the average woman as well as the thousands of young teenage girls, who are simply trying to get through the woes of high school. I do not have access to her pictures because Crockett has made her account private and would have to accept for me to follow her.advertisement of her ‘perfect life.’ The harsh reality of a normal teenage girl trying to live up to the imagery of having the ‘Perfect life’ was displayed through Emma Crockett’s story. She stole my attention with her not only being from a town right up the road from mine but also her heartbreaking story. She shared the reoccurring issue of comparison stating that she always felt like she was looking at other girls and comparing her body type to other girls of her same age. She said that it was a constant state of jealousy and comparison when she scrolled through her Instagram feed. This constant comparison, jealousy and anxious feeling of not fitting in was just the ice burg tip of Emma’s frailty. There was much more going on in her life. Emma was seeing a boy who acted as if they were dating, until one day he told her that he was seeing other girls and that he didn’t find Emma to be as physically attractive as some of the other girls in school. This deep depression mixed with jealousy and comparison led Emma to attempt suicide. Emma opened up to tell the darkness that she experienced. She tells her story in an honest and compelling way. It made me look at Instagram in a new light. I felt like this social media platform just metamorphized into a dark world that lures its users into constant comparison, jealousy, impulse buying, and over all a feeling of needing more. Suddenly it wasn’t so much about sharing your uniqueness. To be popular and to gain followers of this community you have to have the perfect spread of pictures across your account. You have too look as if you are a world traveler, and as if you have your hair and makeup done each and every day by professionals. You also have to have the perfect lighting in your photos, the prettiest teeth, the latest clothing trends. All so you can seem relevant and tell people how you live such a perfect lifestyle. Suddenly, my innocent digital scrapbook started to look more like a dangerous world. I couldn’t help but carry the hurt that Emma had bared. I started to think of what affect this platform has on young girls. I can only recall of times being jealous over Hilary Duff and her beauty growing up because she was always in a magazine I was allowed to buy. Now that jealousy seems to be tenfold because it’s like having a constant magazine in your face saying buy this makeup to look better, or try this workout to get the perfect body, or buy these expensive shoes because they’re trending. It’s a nonstop world that cycles over and over of insignificant posts that shouldn’t have a powerful control over the way we view ourselves. Unfortunately, though there are a lot of users on Instagram getting caught in the trap of feeling insignificant and inadequate.An article posted in Time Magazine explains that Instagram is “the worst social media network for mental health.” They go on to say that “social media posts can also set unrealistic expectations and create feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem. This may explain why Instagram, where personal photos take center stage, received the worst scores for body image and anxiety. As one survey respondent wrote, “Instagram easily makes girls and women feel as if their bodies aren’t good enough as people add filters and edit their pictures in order for them to look ‘perfect’.”This is a huge problem in this community. Not only are girls feeling like shit about their looks they are also feeling the too have more followers, to seem “Popular.” And a consequence with the higher popularity is that they get followers who feel the need to comment mean and hateful comments under posts. Emma from “Social Animals” shared her experience with this as well. She was openly being harassed by classmates throughout her Instagram account. In my opinion It seems to add even more of playing field for people to hide behind a screen and be their best version of a ‘Regina Gorge.’ This problem is being noticed internationally. Time magazine reported that the Royal Society is “calling for social media companies to make changes.” They also want “safe social media use” to be taught during health education in schools, for professionals who work with youth to be trained in digital and social media and for more research to be conducted on the effects of social media on mental health.” This is certainly a step in the right direction. I feel like we’ve been introduced into a different kind of world that our mental health wasn’t quite prepared for. With the recognition of the issues that platforms like Instagram produce, we can now take steps to prepare our future Instagram users for how to handle the ups and downs that social media presents. Hopefully there will be an impact on the younger generation to be more mindful of how much time they spend on Instagram. As well as receiving help from other Instagram users who have been through the challenges of encountering low self-esteem. In the years to come this community has much room for improvement on the overall mental health of its users. I will continue to use this artifact as my own digital scrapbook and admire images that only fill me with appreciation and not jealousy. ................
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