Categorized | Opinion

Attention on Social Board

By: Selina Demetrick

 

With the advancement of technology comes a new object of focus in the eyes of today’s youth; social media. However, the desire for positive attention has not suddenly appeared due to social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. In actuality, these websites are simply an example of how focus is redistributed through time, conforming to the norm of modern culture.

 

When technology was limited to clunky phones and shoddy WiFi, speaking in person was the method of communication deemed most convenient and accessible. However, the ability to post statuses and converse through internet chat have introduced an alternative to speaking in person. Instead of relying entirely on a well-timed phone call or seeing someone the next day, people have begun updating their friends on their life in every way. Presently, people have begun to depend on updating others on simple accomplishments they have made in order to gain approval. Although these achievements normally aren’t important enough to warrant a comment during a conversation in person, the persistent online reminder throughout the day serves to obligate friends and followers to pay attention to each other’s lives.

 

Achieving “likes” on a Facebook status or picture has morphed into a stamp of approval in the day-to-day lives of modern youth. They represent a hearty, genuine laugh, or a vehement nod of agreement from the viewer, or at least, that what’s the status poster hopes. People, in all cultures and ages, have become fixated on the fear of standing out in a bad light, which can be related to the increasing pressures to fit in. Declaring you have gone to the gym, or eaten something healthy, does more than lightheartedly inform friends on the comings and goings of your life, but also suggests the deeper need to assert one’s stance on being a positive and homogenous member of society to avoid ostracization.

 

Though it is easy to attribute most teenagers’ obsession with social media to the vanity and ego of the ‘newer generation’, the need for social approval has existed in disguise since our most primeval days.The desire to be accepted by a collective group can range from the inclination towards popularity to seeking attention. The rudimentary instinct of wanting to fit in exists because of a time when we relied on each other to cooperate and work as a team to survive. Although that initial reason has disappeared with time, the deep-rooted need to be accepted and to be in mutual agreement with others has endured.

 

Although the vocalized opinions of adults focus on how social media is promoting narcissism, the seeming necessity of positive attention is an archaic quality. Likes on Facebook, a retweet on Twitter, or a reblog on Tumblr is fulfilling the basic need for social approval that has been manipulated to fit into modern day culture. Where a simple joke every now and again used to help turn a warm spotlight onto the speaker, over time, social media has exaggerated the ease it takes for one to gain approval, for their five minutes of fame.

 

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