Social media should be a good thing, a way to connect with people, to share art, to spread awareness. But over the years it has become a place that isn’t safe for many people. Where there was opportunity for community, there is now a place where insecurity festers for each new generation.
People in my class have said they’ve had social media since they were young, they first got Instagram or TikTok when they were 10 or 11. Madeline says that she wouldn’t want her kid’s to have social media at a young age. “I got it when I was super young and I think it was bad because I got kind of addicted to it and I wouldn’t want that to happen.”. This is a cycle that keeps repeating and now we’re teenagers seeing a new group of young kids on social media who are worried about their appearance, the right makeup, and what clothes to wear. It’s very hard to watch because it’s the same place I was in not that long ago and it’s a hard mindset to grow out of.
A lot of people have experienced feeling jealous or insecure about what they see on social media. When asked this question, Camilla said, “Yes definitely, probably because of peoples bodies.” Natty said, “I have because I see people that are a lot prettier or have better style than me.” There are a lot of reasons for people to feel insecure and they are all on display for people to feel worse about just by clicking on an app.
I think that although there are a lot of influencers now, there might be a downfall of them because everyone I interviewed said that they would not be likely to become an Influencer as it seems like too much to keep up with. Natty says, “The benefits are cool but I wouldn’t be consistent enough.” We’ve spent so many years trying to keep up with the trends that influencers set up for us, it’s hard to imagine being the ones who set up these trends and decide what the next popular clothing brand or makeup product will be.
In general, I think social media has overall bad effects on people, one of the biggest issues being that it’s raising generation of insecure kids. I think that if there’s a way for social media to just be a place to share art and positivity that would be good, but it seems like it’s gone too far from that now and it’s just a place where people rot their brains for hours on end.
