HOW REAL
Abby Cook 3rd year BSc Psychology and Counselling student
“I don’t know if I fully agree with Essena’s public slaying of social media, I follow many YouTubers who are very honest and public about any sponsors they have, they share most of their lives with their online followers to a point where you almost feel like you know them. If these people are being honest and share almost all of their lives with us, yet are happy in themselves then maybe it was the way Essena approached social media.
Don’t get me wrong, I think she’s extremely brave for speaking out about her unhappiness, but I think she should have gone about it in a better way and reached out for help rather than attack social media. For many people social media is a platform for communication, creativity and expressiveness, I just hope that Essena’s actions don’t effect social media for those it’s providing positive aspects for.”
IS SOCIAL MEDIA? Essena O’Neill: The teen who sparked worldwide debate.
2015. There are more social media ‘stars’ than ever before, on social media platforms from Instagram to independent blogs. These platforms are only growing, and are celebrated for allowing free speech, and allowing people to express themselves freely. In November 2015, Essena O’Neill quit social media, and by the end of the day her emotion-filled video was circulated worldwide, discussed on major news networks and had sparked a debate about the reality of social media.
Two of our tech-savvy students and Kardi Somerfield, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, weigh in on the debate sparked by the Australian teenager’s actions.
Kayleigh Russell 3rd year BSc Psychology and Sociology student
“This is something that I, as well as many other people I’m sure, have mixed feelings about.
On the one hand I agree with everything that Essena has done and said. It can be argued that social media, can be quite damaging to young people because they may look at ‘set up’ pictures and wonder ‘why is my life not like that?’, in a similar way to how other media makes young people feel insecure. Essena also talks about how a lot of her pictures were paid advertisements from companies and this I definitely don’t agree with. As a sociology student, it seems overtly clear that capitalism is seeping in to every single thing that we do.
I guess my conclusion would be that we have to somehow find a way to use social media but also keep ourselves distant from it. It must be possible to enjoy posting and looking at images without getting too involved and letting it take over our lives, because at the end of the day we have to remember that it’s not real.”
Kardi Somerfield Senior Lecturer in Marketing
Essena O’Neill’s decision to turn away from social media is a laudable one. Not because social media is inherently bad, but because she had noticed a particularly vacuous and potentially damaging aspect of it. A couple of things struck me when reading her point of view on this.
Firstly the way in which career Instagram stars like her manipulate their look, and the danger that the audience might believe it is all real and feel inadequate as a result. This is very similar to a much longer running criticism of fashion magazines and their effect on young people in particular.
Secondly the idea that young people can’t readily distinguish between paid-for endorsement and genuine brand advocacy from their idols.
The profile of the users on social media is young – on TV and radio they are protected by Broadcast Advertising Code. I think Essena has shone a spotlight on the potential damage being done to young people by social media…
Where do you stand on this topic? Join in the debate on Facebook: Alumni - University of Northampton
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