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SOCIAL MEDIA'S REDEFINITION OF WHAT COMMUNITY AND SUPPORT MEANS -…
SOCIAL MEDIA'S
REDEFINITION OF WHAT
COMMUNITY AND SUPPORT
MEANS
HUMANS WILL NEVER STOP SEEKING COMMUNITY
Which is why I think social media was created.
Humans tend to always want more. They always tend to crave for more than what they have and there has been this evolutional principle that more is better when it comes to nearly everything.
People go crazy when they’re alone – or they do everything in their power to avoid isolation. For some reason people don’t sit well with the idea of being alone.
This topic should matter to others because humans tend to find themselves become co-dependent on social media (in subtle ways or not) and we tend to never stop seeking community
Humans as a species crave connection and surprisingly we operate better as a herd and unit regardless of our emphasis on individuality.
SOCIAL MEDIA HAS REDEFINED THE TERM AND MEANING OF ‘COMMUNITY’
But nobody thought that social media would grow to the extent that it has, maybe they did.
But it certainly was not anticipated or prevented
Social media was originally intended to create a space of community where one originally was lacking such.
People face a sense of invasion into their lives/ showing support over social media has inevitably crossed the boundaries of some/ can be considered an invasion of privacy/ today’s ‘support’ norms can be considered quite invasive
There needs to be a reminder amongst society that social media can be extremely invasive into the lives of people without their full permission.
SOCIAL MEDIA HAS CHANGED OUR PERSPECTIVES ON THE IDEA OF ‘SUPPORT’ AND WHAT ‘SUPPORT’ LOOKS LIKE
We look to social media and see the different types of over-bearing or unrealistic support that people receive, and we then idolize that and deem it to be the ‘normal’ form of support – and anything less than that is simply not good enough or not supportive period. ---
Now people have seen all the support on social media, real or fake love, and immediately assume that that level of support is what’s to be expected.
We sometimes, actually often, choose to ignore the support that’s around us just because we don’t recognize it to be in the same form as what we want or expect support to come from.
Glass Floor Effect happening on social media’s relationship to how ‘support’ is perceived. ---
This is important because many of us in this day and age feel as if we are not being supported adequately or enough.
We often overlook the support that is present right in front of us because we are seeking “something else” that we think we can find in the magical place that is social media.
I can possibly talk about how social media has changed what society views as support and having support systems.
This should matter for this aspect, respectively, because people need to be cognizant that not only does social media have the power to re-define concepts in society, but it has the power to have already changed what ‘support’ is defined as and looks like. And we need to be mindful of that.
the idea of ‘support’ has changed as a result of social media.
CULTURES CONFLICTING ONE ANOTHER THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA?
I feel as if it has taken the various forms that support originally shows up in and has compared them to one another—as if they come from the same backgrounds and religions and societal norms—to diminish or demean certain forms of support over others. --
Many people who come from mixed backgrounds, or are first generations Americans, or have a conflicting set of belief systems that also contribute to how ‘support’ is perceived and how social media can influence how people view both. Social media has a way of creating the illusion to people that the level of community there is next level and that it essentially serves as the gold standard. Social media gives you consistent, tailored support that checks off the tick box of what you consider to be ‘support’. Many young social media users are looking to social media for self-encouragement rather than hearing it from their family members who are attempting to show that same support.
People end up comparing different support systems across different backgrounds and countries
And this is where my different perspective can be of importance.
Social media is something that hits so many different topics that it’s difficult to choose just one.
I am interested in this topic because I can feel it relating to my own life. Being an Asian-American, I constantly find myself in a battle between both cultures that I grew up in.
I often forget that because these are two entirely different cultures, that the way support is perceived and encouraged is completely different as well.
Sometimes I can’t help but find myself comparing the level of support that’s encouraged in America vs in Asia. I catch myself idolizing American support and feeling some type of way for the level of support that I receive from Asian culture ---
A PERFECT COMMUNITY AND SUPPORT SYSTEM DOESN’T EXIST
I hope that these connections between this topic can help others appreciate the support that is actually around them and realizing that it is quite unrealistic and unhealthy to chase after a ‘Perfect, idolized’ support system that doesn’t exist. ---
By overstimulating support systems, we are becoming further and further desensitized in the face of support. We tend to diminish the significance of what’s in front of us with the great big conceptual perceptions we’ve idolized in our heads and in the media. :
I can contribute benefits and positives to being alone and not fearing it. This is significant for the human condition it feels like---
These lessons are valuable and worth being cognizant over because it inevitably changes the way that we interact with those closest to us who are our support systems. These lessons help to have us recognize that support can come in all different forms and that it does not have to fit into the high expectations and standards that social media idolizes it to be. ---
MISC. THOUGHTS
And if you’re receiving less than what’s expected, people now begin to think that something is wrong with them or that they are inadequate or not enough as well and then it creates this constant negative feedback loop. ---
Although I am also human and I crave connection, I have lately been exploring the depths of myself and changing my ways from avoiding to being alone to embracing my time with myself and finding true peace within that. From someone who practices being alone all the time, it’s definitely a different perspective that I’ve held, and I have a hard time understanding now how some people desperately need that connection and have the fear of being alone or isolation.
I am also curious to talk about the way social media has defined the “ideal” relationship for all the different relationships within our lives
I can mention my childhood and growing up in America on my own, I can mention feeling alone while my family is halfway around the world in Asia. I can mention how extreme independence can also be a trauma response. –
Also, how one’s internal locus of control comes into play, or not, when using social media.
These aspects are more important than others more so because they are over-arching more broadened answers that all allude to why people are turning to social media and beyond to seek support. ---
Some topics that I’d like to explore involve the significance that humans place on social media.