& & Reality Reality
Stephanie Ko Senior Studies Research - Part 1 January 2019 - April 2019
Stephanie Ko
Social Media
In 2019, the presence of social media is inescapable. It’s integrated into the fabric of our society with the ubiquity of smartphones, meaning the individual is vastly far more connected to people around the world than ever before. We have a whole social network connecting us to the 2.77 billion other people just a couple of finger taps away. As new technologies come out, people have a natural tendency to want to explore it and to fall in love with it. YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat are the most popular online platforms among teens now, whereas it used to be Facebook in 2012. We are now influenced into participating in these online platforms as a way to connect with others. Social media and the rise of smartphones has changed the landscape of our society in a pivotal way.
What is reality?
In the new age of social media, photo editing, filters, and photo manipulation are synonymous with digital content. Users have the ability to change others perceptions of them through a single snapshot. These tactics are done during and post production. Prior to the photo being taken, people are dressed, glamorized, and made to pose in certain ways to accentuate features that society deems beautiful. Subsequently, these photos are curated, with the best one moving on to the next stage of photo editing. With the use of photo editing, filters, and digital manipulation of the person, how much of the original person still exists in the photo? It makes you stop to question what is reality. This is the standard procedure for commercial advertising, but what happens when it’s applied to the individual? If this is an accepted behavior across social media, how will people know how much of these photos show the true reality? This is the social media culture today, and it’s mainly due to photo sharing sites like Instagram.
Why question the status quo?
I view myself as an outsider to a large part of social media because I choose not to fully participate in it. I try to live consciously everyday, whether that is through my choices in purchasing, minimizing my waste, or limiting my social media use. Living a limited social media lifestyle is freeing in a sense that I am not constantly being bombarded with content, and I don’t feel the need to check on it to stay relevant. I do use it occasionally, otherwise I would feel like I am missing out on a large part of society. It is troubling to me that I feel like I would be unable to understand my peers or to relate to them if I did not have it. Although I do have social media accounts, I choose to be an outsider to Instagram because I dislike how inauthentic it is. Instagram is a great place to share your photos with friends and family, but it’s also a place for individuals with large egos to brag about their lives. To seek validation through likes and follower count is to put your self worth in the opinions of others. I live life not by how others view me, but by my own goals, achievements, and happiness. Not everyone uses Instagram to boast so openly, so I’m curious to know: Are others just as concerned and conscious of the fact that everyone does it to a different degree? People are superficial and materialistic with a tendency to over consume because our capitalist culture pushes that upon us. Regardless, we all live different lives, and our baseline of reality differs based on our individual values.
How does Instagram play a role in altering our reality? In the physical world Instagram has had a major impact on how we interact with our environments, how we experience food, our relationships, and how we interact with others. The platform is a great way to share trending things quickly, and many hop on the bandwagon to capitalize on it. Colorful Instagram-worthy picturesque locations and objects have become a major selling point for many business. Whether it’s through museums aimed at these audiences, or cafes with colorful unicorn drinks, businesses get a steady revenue with this strategy. These are perks for businesses, but there are also consequences for places unprepared for a higher influx of traffic, such as hidden gems in national parks.
Mental health and wellbeing issues that arise from using social media: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Anxiety and Depression Skewed perceptions Social comparisons Real world relationships Self-expression Self-identity Cyberbullying Fear of Missing out (FOMO) Addiction Hyperconnectivity, 24/7 notification Seeking validation Privacy Shorten attention spans Procrastination and lack of productivity Sleep deprivation Multitasking Social isolation Unrealistic expectations Body image Change of mood Fake personas
“Social media has dramatically shifted how we socialize, communicate, and form relationships with each other. Its impact cannot be understated. As we navigate these new digital spaces that have so much to offer, we must be having a conversation about how it can affect our mental health. Because platforms like Instagram and Facebook present highly curated versions of the people we know and the world around us, it is easy for our perspective of reality to become distorted.” -Laci Green, professional health YouTuber
How does Instagram play a role in altering our reality? In the virtual world Likewise, social media plays a role in altering the mental and personal realities of the individual. Many issues arise from the use of social media and the connections we make with others on it. The Royal Society of Public Health and the Young Health Movement conducted a survey on 1,500 teens and young adults, and found that Instagram was the most detrimental social media network for young people’s mental health and wellbeing. In this report, they found that these health and wellbeing issues centered around the perception of the individual. “Social media has been described as more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol, and is now so entrenched in the lives of young people that it is no longer possible to ignore it when talking about young people’s mental health issues... It’s interesting to see Instagram and Snapchat ranking as the worst for mental health and wellbeing – both platforms are very image-focused and it appears they may be driving feelings of inadequacy and anxiety in young people.” -Shirley Cramer CBE, Chief Executive, RSPH
How has Instagram altered society where there was no presence of social media before? A great part of how social media has transformed our society today is our reliance and addiction to it. Dopamine is a chemical produced by our brains and is released when we have successful social interactions. This is triggered by the likes and comments we receive on our posts. With an infinite social network at our fingertips, it makes it easy become addicted to social media. The dopamine rush that people get from it has caused people to become more absorbed into their phones and to not be as present in the moment even when they are with others. Nowadays people live through their screens, and apps like Instagram enables that behavior with immediate feedback from others. A study done by psychological scientist Linda Henkel of Fairfield University, was conducted with research showing that participants had worse memories of objects if they took photos of it, rather than strictly observing those objects. The correlation between taking photos and memory shows that by viewing things through a screen, it causes users to remember less. It’s also important to note that as of 2017, people have shorter attention spans than we did just a few years ago.
The emergence of the Influencer
Diving deep into the culture that instagram has created, we can see a new industry of the influencer, and how the business market has shifted to take advantage of it. There are two types of users on Instagram: the regular user and the business user. These business users can be big brands and corporations, or they can be small individuals who are marketing themselves. The tier of influencers range from traditional celebrities, followed by macro-Influencers with more than 100,000 followers, and microInfluencers with less than 100,000 followers. Traditional celebrities are athletes, musicians, actors, or are well known because of their talent, skill, or contribution to their specific field of work. Influencers aren’t traditional celebrities, but are ordinary people or socialites who partner with brands to sell products to their followers. The average person can become an Influencer if they have a large enough following, and if brands want to partner with them. Businesses have figured out a clever way to get personalities like your neighbor, who you trust, to sell you products. This seamless blend of marketing and lifestyle is a type of manipulation done to the audience. It is incredibly profitable for companies to move into this industry.
The Kardashians
The Kardashian family is the epitome of an Influencer on Instagram. Kim Kardashian is ranked sixth on the list of Instagram accounts with the most followers worldwide as of April 2019, behind the top five who are traditional celebrities. She has an enormous following of 133.24 million followers, and with that large of an audience, she has influence over an extensive user base. Brands know this too, and Kim gets paid up to as much as $500,000 per post. Influencers have a staggering impact over the users of the platform. They are the ones who have control of what the major sees with their posts, and they are the ones who set the unrealistic standards for the average user. They broadcast the unrealistic expectations of beauty, body image, and wealth to the public. People try to emulate them because of their desire to be like them, and whether people realize it or not, they imitate them subsciously.
EXPECTATIONS
REALITY
Has reality shifted closer to the unreality? -Where is the line? Subconsciously people will try to stack up to these standards that have been put forth because those expectations are already out there. People have the need to match up to feel comparable to rest of the people out there. Others have different motivations, and try to live that lifestyle because they want to feel like they belong. Some hope that by living in their fake realities, it will be fulfilled because once people perceive you a certain way it could manifest itself into reality. An example of this is the much hyped and disastrous Fyre Festival. The organizers used Influencers to convince the users of Instagram that the festival would be an amazing experience, when in reality they lacked major funding. Billy McFarland, the mastermind behind the idea, schemed money out of people and believed that the fantasy he dreamed of would turn into a reality if he believed it enough. This way of thinking is dangerous, as perceptions do influence reality, but it’s important remember to ground yourself in reality and not fantasy.
Instagram Users Instagram Users
Zoey Schaeffer
Margot Bancroft
Holly Nichols
High School Freshman
High School Senior
Fashion Illustrator
Typical User
Typical User
Macro-influencer
1.3K Followers
1.3K Followers
742K Followers
Those are big ideas, but what about the individual? To get a better understanding of how Instagram affects the mental health and behavior of regular Instagram users and as well as Influencers, I interviewed two regular high school users and a fashion illustrator. It was important to get the perspective of both regular user and that of an Influencer because the Influencer uses it as a monetized business platform.
Interview Holly Nichols I started off speaking with Holly Nichols, a Fashion Illustrator whose hobby turned into a business. She uses Instagram primarily as a digital portfolio, sharing new items for sale, and through the monetized the platform, she is able to take on sponsored content. When asked about how Instagram has affected her mental health and behavior she said,“Instagram is very much smoke and mirrors. Even with this knowledge, it’s terribly difficult not to compare yourself to others. This can be damaging to the mind, body, and spirit.� As an Influencer using the platform to compete against others in her category from a business standpoint, not only is she comparing her work to others, but because her work is tied so closely to her sense of self, she is comparing herself to others. Although this is not about comparing her physical features to that of others, she understand that Instagram does not portray the full truth of what is posted.
Interview Margot Bancroft My second interview was with Margot Bancroft, a high school senior, who is a regular user on the platform. Before I started my interview, she had already mentioned that she is taking a break from the platform. I was quite intrigued that she had taken action to distance herself from the platform for a month as an experiment. She stated that Instagram had already had affected her mental health, and with the constant notifications she was receiving, she wasn’t able to focus. Another insight she said was that she, “... spent so much time anguishing [over photos] when she was younger,” and that “younger girls would definitely look at perfect girls and compare themselves, which is not good for self esteem.” She realized she was spending so much time doing so and didn’t know she was in denial while it was happening. Once she deleted it and stepped back she recognized the fact. She mentioned, “[It’s] impossible not to compare yourself to others.” When asked about the difference between genders, she noted that there are “...less impossible standards of men... In terms of lifestyle and fitness men do compare, but the stereotype of the female figure is different than that of a male.”
Interview Zoey Schaeffer Lastly, I interviewed Zoey Schaeffer, a high school freshman. She admitted that she was addicted to Instagram and checks it multiple times per hour. She mainly uses to watch funny videos and to communicate with her friends. A crucial piece of information that was communicated through her use of pauses and tone of voice was when I asked about the negative impacts the platform has had on her mental health and behavior. She was quiet for a bit before responding sheepishly about how she sometimes compares herself to fitness Influencers, and how her body issues stem from it. It was apparent in her tone of voice that it affected her more than she was comfortable sharing.
Instagram is very much smoke and mirrors. Even with this knowledge, it’s terribly difficult not to compare yourself to others. - Holly Nichols, Fashion Illustrator
I spent so much time anguishing... It’s impossible not to compare yourself to others. - Margot Bancroft, High School Senior
Audience
The younger the users were, the less they understood that they were looking at false personas and curated images. Young women seemed to be the most susceptible to peer pressure and other influences because at that age, they are still figuring out who they are. Girls at this age are also more easily influenced than boys are by peer pressure, which is important difference to note between genders.
Key Quotes from Survey “It's become a thing that I monitor like a bad habit. I delete it, and track my time. The feeling of being unproductive after using it outweighs any positives, but it always comes back, probably a FOMO thing.” “At first it was posting whatever made me happy, but now I post things that I hope the people who follow me will want to like, so I can get the most likes possible.” “It’s scary in a way to think it’s such a major part of my life. Anywhere I go people say, ‘Oh I need to get a picture for Instagram.’ Or going to parties to you see friends, the first thing they say is ‘Let’s take a picture to post.’ It’s not real, it’s all just for the posts. It’s affecting my life for these reasons, where I’m taking and posting pictures rather than living my life.” “It’s definitely had its fair share of causing some major insecurities within me. When seeing girls post pictures with amazing angles with professionals, comparing yourself to it serves as motivation for me to get in shape to try look prettier - which is totally wrong. I think this goes for a lot of girls whose mental health is affected by social media in this way.” “I think it’s sad for younger kids that are on Instagram that don’t realize these people with ‘perfect’ lives are just selling an image, and they feel pressured to be cooler, or prettier, or thinner etc. I think as we get older we realize it’s pretty fake, and you can just not follow those type of people.” “A lot of the younger audience that uses social media takes Instagram way too seriously and relies heavily on their online image of what they are portraying/ comparing to their followers. It’s what I’ve observed from my younger sisters who are still in high school.”
Survey
Through the course of the research period, I surveyed 40 people ranging from high school freshmen to college freshmen with the same questions I asked during my interviews. This was done to aid the information I found from a report done by The Pew Research Center on Teens, Social Media & Technology 2018. Commonalities that I found in my research were comparison to others, FOMO, and the passive use of Instagram. Almost 75% of the participants said that they use Instagram passively at least 50% or more of the time. The Percentage of U.S. social networkers who are afraid of missing out on news on social networks is as high as 56% as of June 2013.
Identity
It is in our inherent nature to present the perfect versions of ourselves, and Instagram is the best place to post these false personas that we curate and alter. It’s important that users understand this behavior so that they don’t compare themselves to a false reality. We are influenced by how others dress and that changes our perceptions and how we treat them. The way we present ourselves on social media is a part of our identity, as we have multiple selves and multiple self-narratives, but we need to recognize that our identities are complex and that the online version of ourselves are the most superficial ones.
Passive use
In my research, people use Instagram passively when they are bored. They scroll through their feed quickly without engaging in social interaction beyond superficial likes. A study has shown that you judge someone based on appearance in 1/10 of a second. With the speed and rate of which people scroll, this is dangerous when mindlessly scrolling through Instagram because people are subconsciously comparing themselves to the false personas that are presented.
FOMO
I found that the main reason people keep up with this addictive behavior is because they have the fear of missing out (FOMO) and the need to belong. The fear of missing out has always been a problem, but is exacerbated by the hyperconnectivity that social media and our phones provide us. The curation of a fake persona combined with the passive use and FOMO that people experience, lead to compare and despair behavior. People will compare themselves and despair because they feel that they lack something compared to others.
Reality is not what it seems
Instagram is an illusion where people go to take part of a fake reality whether they realize it or not. It’s detrimental to compare yourself to a false reality especially when you don’t recognize it.
Critical Design Presenting fictional products/services/systems from alternative futures for the audience to engage with critically
Discursive Design
Discursive design is an umbrella term to describe design that is meant to spark discourse. This is done with the creation of an object that has been intentionally imbued with discourse to elicit discussion. Rather than focusing on what we design (the end product), or how we design (the process), the concern is on why we design (the intention.) More specifically I am focusing on using Critical Design, which is “Presenting fictional products/services/systems from alternative futures for the audience to engage with critically.” “Design as critique can do many things—pose questions, encourage thought, expose assumptions, provoke action, spark debate, raise awareness, offer new perspectives, and inspire...Critical design might borrow heavily from art’s methods and approaches but that is it. We expect art to be shocking and extreme. Critical design needs to be closer to the everyday; that’s where its power to disturb lies. A critical design should be demanding, challenging, and if it is going to raise awareness, do so for issues that are not already well known. Safe ideas will not linger in people’s minds or challenge prevailing views but if it is too weird, it will be dismissed as art, and if too normal, it will be effortlessly assimilated... For us, a key feature is how well it simultaneously sits in this world, the here-and-now, while belonging to another yet-to-exist one.” - Speculative Everything by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby
Design Intent
My focus is to help users become aware that Instagram is an illusion by illuminating the issue with the design process. By using Discursive design to help educate the user through design, I hope that it will help people in understanding their behavior. The goal for the summer is to create social experiments/interactive objects or exhibits to bring awareness to users and to educate them, with a focus on younger women. At the showcase I am reporting on my findings, with a smaller scale of this social experiment for users as a takeaway.
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