Most of us, if not all, have definitely had our moments where we are really wondering what we’re doing with our lives. With how advanced social media is, and especially with how the lives of social media influencers are seen it definitely brings a sort of insecurity that I personally never knew was a thing that I had. Media overall is honestly mentally exhausting no matter what type of media you could be viewing. Watching the news can possibly make you anxious, seeing influencers living that “Hollywood life” after dancing in front of a camera can bring out insecurities, it is all mentally draining from both ends.
This all definitely falls under cultivation and narrative theory. Cultivation theory is how active we actually are when we consume mass communication. I wouldn’t say that for me personally that my life is completely revolved around social media, but a good chunk of it definitely is. I view my weekly screen time on my phone and sometimes get annoyed when the numbers are too high even when I always try to tell myself “get off your phone and do your homework”. Narrative theory is the idea that people use stories to understand and interact with the world around them. This is more of the somewhat positive side of media, where everyone interacts to learn and understand each other.
Although we mostly tend to find the pros of social media, the cons are such a big impact. We sometimes tend to think that we need to be accepted by everyone on every platform we have, causing a mentally draining mentality.
Hey Maxine! I do the same thing with checking my screentime, sometimes I wish apple would not force me to look at it haha. Social media has a way of allowing users to put a pretty facade up and block the world from seeing what is actually going on in their life. Sometimes we do it, posting a happy picture and ignoring the negativity going on in our lives. Most of the time I feel that we’re the ones looking at others posts (mostly influencers or celebrities) and wishing our lives were like theirs, ignoring or not thinking about how they also probably have negative things going on in their life. I think its really nice that now a lot of high profile people are advocating for mental health awareness and opening up to what they experience on social media to show that they are just like us.