Actively Using Social Media

Off the top of my head, I can think of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Tumblr, and LinkedIn as some of the most used social media platforms. Most people I know have accounts with at least 3 or 4 of them, if not all of these and even more. It's almost impossible to use 6 or 7 social media outlets actively and independently of each other. What I mean is, posting separately to each one instead of your Instagram feed also posting to your Facebook and twitter accounts. Of that vein, of course there will be people who passively parse through their feeds. I am personally very guilty of this.

I can definitely see why using social media in that way can make people sad. I feel like it ties into descriptive norms. We see people posting about all the great things they're doing and if we aren't doing those things or something we see as equally great as those things, it can make us feel inferior or as if our life is "less than". This idea also ties back into the video we watched in class on Monday; it can be hard for us to show our real selves, especially on social media where everyone's lives have been edited to show the best parts.

I also think it's interesting that addiction is led by a feeling of isolation, yet we also say we're addicted to social media. If social media makes us feel isolated, then why do we turn to it so heavily? Is it because of the idea that social media exists to make human connection easier? I wonder.