When most people think of a social networking website, the first one that comes to mind is Facebook. This might be because Facebook has over 500 million active users or the movie The Social Network which is a chronicle of the founding of Facebook. Personally all of my closest friends and myself have a Facebook account and I strongly believe that it can affect a person’s emotional health. From my personal opinion and experiences, I have learned that people wear a “mask” on sites like Facebook and Myspace. What I mean by “mask” is that, people will only let you see what they want you to see and you should never be fooled by this “mask.” The photos people put up are often a signature smile in a flattering pose or with a majestic background. You will rarely see pictures of people looking angry or sad and that’s for a reason. No one wants the world to think their “crazy” or an “emotional mess.”
This leads me to my point, that social networking sites can affect your emotions. Although no one ever really shares their whole life’s story with the public, sharing only the good aspects of one’s life can make others feel inadequate or depressed. Have you ever looked at a friend’s profile to learn they have traveled the world, have a great job, and their life looks perfect? Well, it has happened to me and all I can think about is how these people are my same age and that they have already done so much with their life, and what have I done with mine. I know I shouldn’t compare myself to my friends but sorry to say it EVERYONE does it at one point or another. More ways these sites affect people are as simple as a comment, deleting friends, sending invitations, sending personal messages, and posting a picture. Leaving a comment can be taken several different ways but the worst for most people is when a person doesn’t respond because that is a reply on its own. Not responding to a message or comment leaves the sender in the position to assume the reason why the recipient never wrote back, often leaving people feeling neglected or as if they are being avoided. Deleting a person you don’t talk to is perfectly fine but sometimes the person who was deleted feels hurt because they don’t understand why. Posting pictures can also have a dramatic role in friendships ending, losing jobs, and ruining a person’s image. All these examples I have just given can affect people to some degree.
Although I have only pointed out ways in which sites can be detrimental to a person’s health it can also help people feel connected to others. Overall a person’s state of mind will determine if a simple message, picture, or comment will affect them or not. So just remember the “mask’ that people wear is like seeing only the tip of an iceberg, there is still so much more under the water that you don’t see.
4 comments:
I completely agree with everything you’ve mentioned about social networks. I am one of those people that has a Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace account and agree that these social networks at some degree can affect your health. When I write a comment or leave a message to a friend or family member, I like to know that I’m going to get a reply back. I start to feel bad when I log back on to the page and don’t see anything in return. I’m under the impression the person is ignoring me and that’s not a great feeling. In reality that’s probably not their intentions at all, maybe they’re super busy and don’t have the chance to get back to you. I also feel like everything in life is a competition especially when you see your friends living a lifestyle you may want to lead. People feel like they have to be fake to compensate for the things they don’t have in order to appear a certain way, and that’s where you put that “mask” that you’re referring to. I agree that no one wants the world to know that they’re struggling or that they’re depressed, that’s why when you log on to Facebook, MySpace, or any other social networking website, you’re seeing a person that’s happy in their pictures when that might not be the case. Social networks can make or break a person and in my opinion is kind of an asset to bullies. I believe in a way that people should learn not to take a person’s comments personally because it can affect you in the wrong way and who knows the ending results of that.
I find that your posting is very on point and honest. The fact that through the social media mediums (Facebook, Twitter) people can shape how the world views them is leaving all the room needed for people to be bias and eccentric. It is human nature that people only want to share the good things about them and hide all their insecurity. We all want to be seen in the best way and in no way attract any shame. In many ways we are doing more harm to ourselves the more we are consumed by other peoples postings and comments on Facebook. As we engage in these comparisons of our lives through the limited scope of social media mediums we are for one reacting to an illusion and two are feeding that feeling of inadequacy that we all have to one degree or another. The point is that users should be very conscious that what a lot of people post on Facebook and twitter is "smokes and mirrors" and for the most part hold no relevance to your life to begin with.
Thanks for the post i understand were you are comming from. Some of these examples can be traced with old technologies too. not getting a reply to a comment can feel like not haveing a phone call returned or even before that recieving a message reply to a physical letter you mailed to someone. all these can be hurtful. So remember that whenever these no replies happened, many years ago you would stopped mailling the letters, years later we stopped calling him or her and today we can drop a friend in facebook or if it gets really bad . We can always stop logging in ....
I find what you have said here to be very interesting, however I believe that perhaps these glorified images of people that you are seeing sre still things that they have done and that this should inspire you to do more with your lives as opposed to feeling bad about yourself and just look at the things that people have done as options of experiences that you cab have in life.
In addittion I also believe that with people being able to portray their best side on social networking sites this can help people create a positive self image for themselves.
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