Blog Post 4: Essena O'Neill & Neoliberal economic principles

Essena O’Neill, a social media influencer released a confessional video just last year, claiming how the positive perspective she held about social media changed, and highlighting how she has come to view it as inauthentic.  She proclaimed that, “Nothing is perfect about spending every single day making your life look perfect online. That is not real. That is not inspirational”. She began to see social media in a new light as a result of her increasing fame. The glory and power Essena was experiencing from all of her followers and all the people she had interested in signing her as a model, in the end was just making her miserable. She thought that she “had at all”, but as she proclaimed, “ Having it all on social media means nothing to your real life”. Her confessional video caught many people by surprise as people who had viewed her as someone who is happy with her life and her choice to be represented in the media. This goes to show how social media can mis-portray individuals, and make us viewers perceive them in a different way.

     Furthermore, I believe a lot of Essena decisions in regards to leaving her social media platforms; can be seen in relation to Van Dijck neoliberal economic principles. In our society, a lot of the ways people connect is influenced by advertising and economic factors. Essena Instagram, and other social media accounts represented this, as she displayed an ideal body image and portrayed certain brands and companies to promote and sell this image. Instagram is a social media account known for connecting individuals, especially through this competition, and hierarchy, that Dijck speaks of. Females specifically are always competing for popularity on instgram, to get the most likes, the most followers, and potentially get noticed by professionals looking for models. Thus, this can be correlated to how Essena got caught up in this ideology, facing pressure from peers and technology, to want to expand her account and gain more power in the instagram world. The more her account kept expanding with followers, the more pressure she felt to maintain it as many people became reliant on her, which is what eventually led her to get fed up with social media in general. The pressure from peers and technology is a huge factor in the culture of connectivity, which either motivates people to stay connected, or encourages them to depart and leave behind their social media accounts, such as Essena did.

        Therefore, I think a lot of Essena views she developed toward the end of her social media début, was built around this culture of connectivity that Dijck speaks of. The culture of connectivity creates a popularity contest, and competition between users, to gain status within the social media world. So much so, that users begin to think of this status as reflecting their own real life, when in actuality it is almost like a virtual world, which is what Essena began to see. Yes, users may gain status and popularity online with getting thousands of likes, or millions of followers, and interested professionals. However, it can sometimes take on this false reality, that doesn’t carry on to your real life, but just makes you get caught up in a virtual world.  Thus, after viewing Essena story I can see her perspective and reasoning behind leaving her social media world behind, working more on fixing herself and becoming more intertwined with the real world. The culture of connectivity can make individuals become so consumed in fame and stardom, that they begin to see themselves in a new way not reflective of who they truly are. 

Dijck, JoseÌ Van. The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2013. Print.