Is social media making us more vain? That is the question..
If you break the words apart, social media is a means by which we can get more social. And that’s what social media was intended for – to make socializing with others easier and faster. But has it done only that?
As times goes on, I’ve noticed another side to social media, especially on Instagram with the craze for likes and followers. Although social media works great for networking, and as a communication tool, it also seems to have unleashed a vain side in most of us.
Now the questions are – Is this healthy? Is this something we should be concerned about? Is it even true that social media makes us vain?
Here are some of my thoughts:
Social media encourages us to share our personal lives.
Starting from the design of each social media platform, the developers made it extremely easy for every user to share their lives in little or great detail.
You can write long status posts (except for twitter which allows only 140 characters) recounting your day and sharing your feelings. And most times it’s centered around you. Because sharing what’s happening around you so easy, you find yourself reporting every incident of your life as soon as it happens.
Each post you create is focused on your life. Very few people post content about others without mentioning how it affects you or what role you play.
You are in almost every picture you take and its first stop is always social media
Only a few people take pictures without posting on social media these days. Except the photo is not a good one. The automatic response to every picture we take on our phone is – will this picture look good on social media? I wonder how many likes this photo would get? I am not sure about you, but I know I think about these 99.9% of the time when I take a new photo.
Videos are also not left out of this equation.
Social media can provide the avenue for celebrity status
There is the craze for increasing the number of followers on social media. A good number of social media users create content and take photos and videos that will attract the interest of their followers and possibly attract more followers. So social media can provide an avenue for celebrity status.
Verdict?
In most aspects, social media is definitely encouraging us to be vain. Psychologists who have studied social media users’ behaviours and responses to social media were also of the same opinion. But is this social media vanity that bad? I don’t think so. I think a little bit of vanity is good as long as it does not take over your life.
Social media, whether it encourages vanity or not, has helped give us – bloggers, a voice and a platform to showcase our talent. And what if it makes us a little vain. This vanity is good as long as it doesn’t swallow you up.
What do you think? Has social media made you more vain? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Thanks for stopping by.
I definitely agree with everything that you’ve mentioned above!
Thank you.
I am not sure if it is making us more vain, but it is making it more acceptable for people to “show off” than ever before. Absolutely nothing wrong in doing that over social media, although some people do seem to go to extremes, becoming almost obsessive!
Yes I agree.
Awesome thought provoking post 😊
Thanks Joan.
I agree! I always flick through filters thinking what looks best. I do try only to post ‘selfies’ once in a while now though as I was becoming obsessed!! x
Lol..
I think this is especially true of teenagers, it certainly hasn’t made me vain, I post pics of me looking terrible LOL
I do too sometimes..
It most certainly does. Yesterday I saw a man in his 50s taking selfies when he was on a coach to Luton airport. I found this utterly odd to be honest.
Yea I would find that odd too.
I suppose in a sense it has. I always make sure I look half decent before posting a pic of myself x
Yea I do too most times x
Very thought provoking! This is actually a subject I’ve been thinking about a lot lately as a teen blogger. I’m new to blogging and so glad that I stumbled upon yours.
Ah nice. Thanks for reading.
I suppose it does, I’ve never really thought about it much until now – your post really made me think
Glad it did Rebecca..
Social Media definitely creates vanity but for me the validation I get through comments and interaction helps me feel more confident x
I get what you mean Ana x
Interesting read. I think it certainly effects younger people, especially teenagers x
Thanks Jayne.
Speaking of that, I was reminded of that one friend who’s just crazy about capturing every moment and Facebook-ing it. Here’s to those friends😂
Lol..Here’s to them!
And on that note, check this out!
And while you’re at it, take the time out for the others as well😂!
https://themoopointsite.wordpress.com/2017/03/21/how-to-take-that-perfect-facebook-picture/
Oh great. I will..
Interesting post! I would say social media is definitely a difficult one…we can’t live without it and we can’t live with it! It terms of making us more vein I would say yes it does….As sad as it sounds (and I think we can all be guilty of this) it’s like an item of clothing or a new beauty product we have bought it’s worth it or valid until we have posted it on Instagram.
Thanks for making me think about this!
Thanks for stopping by. Glad you like the post.
Totally true
Yea.
Oooo very thought provoking
Thanks for stopping by..
Great post. I often think about how social media is affecting our lives and will affect the next generation. You raise some really interesting points and I have to agree with you. My next post is about how social media influences us with regards to fitness 😘
Oh sounds nice.
Definitely with you here, social media… this a definitely a conversation that we should be having more
Thanks.
Thanks for this interesting post.
Thanks for reading.
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So true . Get words. Also visit me
Thanks.
So true! I think social media makes us more vain and less honest about ourselves. We only wanna share our best parts online. I linked to this article in my recent post, hope that was okay 🙂
It is. Thanks..
Hey sorry if I am going about this all the wrong way but I am new on this and created an article about our lives in the 21st century with social media, please give it a view if you have a minute! Thank you.
I will. Thanks.
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