A Synthesis Statement.

Over the past two decades, many social networks have come into existence, Orkut, Myspace, Tumblr. But, no one left quite as big a mark as Facebook. What started as a way for college students to connect with their peers slowly but surely changed the face of the world as we know it. Since then, we’ve had a slew of networks working tirelessly to cash in on the attention currency of their users. But what is interesting is how these apps developed by people to help others connect, has led us to disconnect with ourselves and be more lonely than ever. The effects of social media on people have been widely studied and social media websites have often received criticism for selling customer information, security concerns, and poor consumer behavior but one thing that stands out the most in a huge list of offense is the effect of social media on self perception and self worth. 

The first example from my research I would like to explore more is a CNN article titled “Exploring the Effects of Social Media on Art and Culture, One Selfie at a Time”[1]. This article looks to explore the effect social media and the advent of the digital age has had on art and culture. It talks about how a lot of artists and curators are choosing to create installations that are “Instagram Friendly”, to attract visitors. This begs the question, what purpose does art serve in these scenarios? Is it serving its true purpose of making the viewer feel and question the world around them, or does it make for a cute selfie? Perhaps one of the biggest things that stuck out to me when I read this article was its effect on artists themselves. When Instagram recently announced that they are no longer a photo sharing app[2], I remember how frustrated so many artists were. For better or for worse, social media has created a platform for people from all walks of life to showcase their skills and talents. It has in some sense democratized art. Art is now not only meant to be created and enjoyed by the rich and famous, but for everyone. However, with this shift from image sharing to essentially pushing Instagram Reels as their primary product the message has been very clear, engagement OVER talent, quantity OVER quality. As people, we are bombarded with personal and professional wins of those around us. Our social media feeds act as a highlight reel of sorts. Add to that the pressure of using these platforms for exposure and to earn your livelihood and you create the perfect mix of self doubt and imposter syndrome. The inherent pressure to stay relevant AND to drive huge numbers to your profile, especially since other’s seem to have cracked the formula to do so, can be devastating to one’s mental health. It not only creates a false sense of falling behind in one’s life but also goes as far as to affect your sense of self worth. 

The second example I would like to analyze is a Netflix film titled “The Social Dilemma” [3]. It is part fiction, part documentary and focuses on the perils of social media by interviewing some of the very people who built these platforms along with a dramatization of how social media subconsciously changes our attitudes and behaviors towards the world around us. This film created a lot of buzz when it first came out in 2020 but the series of events that followed its release dulled the impact in my opinion. For a second, we had a huge group of people questioning their social media usage as well as asking questions about their privacy and data collection. This film explores themes of social media’s effect on body image, cyber bullying, device addiction and radicalization. While we as users are no strangers to these themes, I think often we tend to not be very critical of our social media usage. It reminds me of the art installation by Addie Wagenknecht titled “Asymmetric Love”[4]. The piece uses CCTV cameras to mimic a Victorian Chandelier to lull the viewer into a false sense of security and distract them from the realization that they are being observed. While this piece was introduced to us in the context of control, one cant help but draw parallels between the piece and the usage of social media apps by users. In serving it’s users with personalized content recommended by the best AI algorithms, it lulls the user into a false sense of comfort discouraging them to critically analyze their interaction with the app and the people on it. One of the things that stuck out to me the most from the movie was the way social media affected a teenage girl. In the movie, we see how social media propagates a sense of body dysmorphia in the young girl. First there was Barbie, then there were celebrities and now there are social media filters. A time magazine article reported that there is a surge in the number of women getting plastic surgery and the kicker was it was to mimic Snapchat filters. They dubbed this phenomenon “Snapchat Dysmorphia”[5]. While it is easy to look at these kinds of articles as a fascinating evolution of self perception, it is perhaps more urgent to critically examine what is driving this in people. Social media feeds are full of FaceTuned faces and bodies propagating unrealistic beauty standards. Pore-less faces, no body fat, postpartum bodies that look like they were never pregnant, men with washboard abs, the list goes on. When users are indirectly or directly subjected to these images on a daily basis, it is easy to draw comparisons and have a reduced sense of self worth.

And if physical self worth wasn’t enough, there are a slew of productivity and career influencers on these platforms that push the narrative of “you have the same number of hours in the day as Beyonce”, creating a false sense of equality and encouraging the “if I could do it, so cold you'' narrative. These content creators glaze over or completely discount the disproportional ways in which some people are affected by their lives as well as ignore the very allowances their privilege grants them to be able to do extraordinary things with their lives. These unfair points of view trigger people into a spiral of shame and worthlessness for the sheer reason that all of their energy is exhausted by the simple act of existing. Lifestyle envy is constantly peddled by these platforms and even we, as users, are guilty of indulging in this ourselves. 

The final question to ask is perhaps, how do we mitigate this problem? Is social media celibacy the only option or are there more realistic steps one can take to safeguard their mental health and sense of self worth on these platforms? For starters, individual users can use features like screen time to monitor their social media consumption and work on inculcating a truer, less altered form of self on their social media profiles. A lot of people are trying to do this by posting unfiltered, unedited selfies to remind people what real people look like. A lot of social media creators are also making a more conscious effort to be transparent with their audience to avoid glamourising and over inflating the value of their lifestyle, appearance etc. For eg., a lot of beauty influencers choose to use hashtags like #realskin to show makeup on real skin without photoshop and studio lights and showcase natural texture on their profiles and encourage their users to do the same. And while it is important for users and people with large social media following to create an environment that nurtures transparency and vulnerability on these apps, we would be remiss to not mention the accountability the social media companies need to take for the same. Government regulations are forcing people to disclose ads in their social media feed, perhaps there needs to be more work that needs to be done to disclose the usage of image altering apps on pictures as well. Beyond this, it is imperative for these companies to evaluate their mission and focus on the digital health of their users. It is important to involve ethical digital design practices that don't encourage users to scroll for hours and instead creates a positive symbiotic relationship between the app and the user. 

What purpose does the work seek to serve?

While there is no one right answer, I think it is important that we as a society adapt to our new way of connecting but still critically analyze the role of social media in our lives. In keeping with that, the zine contains illustrations by me and the goal would be to challenge the viewer to be more critical of the world we live in and demand more ethical design practices of these companies. I believe in starting a conversation about the same through art and trigger the first step for the viewer towards making their relationship with social media more conscious.

LIST OF CITATIONS

• Kwun, Aileen. “Exploring the Effects of Social Media on Art and Culture, One Selfie at a Time.” CNN, Cable News Network, 11 Jan. 2018, https://www.cnn.com/style/article/instagram-installation-art/index.html. 

• Clark, Mitchell. “Head of Instagram Says Instagram Is No Longer a Photo Sharing App.” The Verge, The Verge, 30 June 2021, https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/30/22557942/instagram-no-longer-photo-app-video-entertainment-focus. 

• Orlowski, Jeff, director. YouTube, YouTube, 27 Aug. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaaC57tcci0. Accessed 11 Nov. 2021. 

• Wagenknecht, Addie. “Addie Wagenknecht: Asymmetric Love (2013).” Artsy, 2013, https://www.artsy.net/artwork/addie-wagenknecht-asymmetric-love. 

• Ducharme, Jamie. “People Are Getting Plastic Surgery to Look like Snapchat Filters.” Time, Time, 29 Apr. 2021, https://time.com/5357262/snapchat-plastic-surgery/.