The article, 13, Right Now, puts the life of
13-year-old Katherine Pommerening under a microscope and shows readers the
extensive impact that digital media has on the day-to-day lives of many
individuals. For Katherine, her daily activities are consistently being interjected
by the social media platforms (Instagram, Snapchat, BuzzFeed, Spotify, etc.)
that can all be found conveniently on her iPhone. However, as with every great
innovation that bears great pros, so too does the bearing of cons as well – in
particular, the social anxieties that tag along. These social anxieties are
constructed from Katherine’s urge to continually stay plugged into the
different social mediums so that she doesn’t miss out on what her friends are
up too. Even a simple 12-minute-car ride couldn’t be endured without her
routine check of social media updates. This type of technological dependency
eventually forces extreme users to develop intense feelings for the
applications that alter how the app is used – shifting far away from the initial
intentions of the medium.
For those who aren’t familiar with Instagram, whenever
you post a picture to the platform you are instantly notified with a little heart
whenever someone likes your post, a speech bubble whenever someone comments on
your post, and a silhouette of a person whenever you receive a new follow. Now
for most, this little box could be completely meaningless; for others, it means
the world. They desperately seek the approval of others and feel that if they receive
a substantial amount of likes and comments that they are labelled as ‘popular’
and when their goal is not satisfied then their social anxieties begin to take
over. This is proved by the fact that Katherine (and many other girls) will
delete the photos that do not receive the same attention as the remaining posts
on their page. The actions that Katherine take can be the result of social
shaping – the concept that we alter the role technology plays in our lives so
that it can fit snugly into our lives (51, Baym). Personally, I’ve never been
one to stress over an Instagram post; but I’ve seen many others take the
platform much more seriously. They will stress themselves out over the type of
filter they use, the time the post’s uploaded and even the geotag – just so
everybody knows EXACTLY where they are and why they’re there. Some people even
feel obligated to post an Instagram because they’re “due” for one. Instagram has without a doubt began to embed itself into not only my daily routine, but many others as well - making the risk of catching social anxiousness much higher.
Everybody suffers from anxiety in some form.
These digital mediums have begun to alter our priorities and create these anxieties
that were nonexistent nothing short of 10 years ago. And with technology
advancing as rapidly as is has been, these anxieties will become not only more
common throughout societies, but the digital mediums as well. Social shaping is
an extremely intriguing theory to me, one that I had never really realized as a
whole. It’s incredible to see how much digital media has impacted our lives – making it that much more interesting to see
how deeply it integrates itself into our future lifestyles.
What you said was very accurate. The pictures you chose to use are a very sad but accurate representation of what too much technology is doing to the current generation. As you mentioned Katherine is under the microscope and is heavily affected by the excessive use of social media. I especially agree with the example you used with Instagram. People use it to show a photo still of what is going on in their lives and are often feeling the pressure of living up to everyone else expectations.
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