Blog Post 2: The Prom Queen of Instagram and the Social Shaping of Technology

Nancy Baym describes the social shaping of technology perspective as one that emphasizes a middle ground (51) between technological determinism, where machines and technologies are seen as having the ability to change human behaviour and interaction, along with the social construction of technology, where humans have the power to change both society and technology. Baym writes, “consequences of technologies arise from a mix of affordances - the capabilities configurations of technological qualities enable - and the unexpected and emergent ways that people make use of those affordances” (51). Therefore, the social shaping of technology perspective takes a middle ground by saying that neither machines nor people are the cause, but rather that the two of them together form a cause.

Out of the four different theoretical perspectives, I focused on the social shaping of technology theory because I felt it was most relevant to the article “The Prom Queen of Instagram,” in the sense that it shows just how Lilli Hymowitz used Instagram to portray the “edited version” of her life. Baym additionally writes, “expectations of how technologies will be used are built into their design, yet those influences do not necessarily dominate experience” (51). So, whilst some users might disagree, Lilli doesn’t think it’s ‘cool’ to use hashtags on her photos – this shows how users can rework the affordances of technology in unique and diverse ways. It can be said that Lilli’s use of Instagram is what led to her popularity, where she was able to create an identity by displaying the best version of herself – whether it be photos of her in the club or by the pool, it by no means portrays the side she doesn’t want others to see, i.e. that of cancelled plans, boredom etc.

A number of different anxieties arise when people think that ‘you are cooler than you are’ because of your social media presence and identity. For Lilli, it was a matter of knowing whether people were hanging out with her for her instafame or because they actually liked her. Other anxieties might include how many likes someone receives on their photo or how many people they follow and vice versa – even Lilli admits that she used to care about how many people she followed. In conclusion, whether someone cares about how many followers or likes they receive, or how they appear to others through Instagram varies from person to person, which essentially supports the social construction of technology perspective maintaining the idea that control goes both ways.