Blog Post 4: Essena O'Neill and the Neoliberal Economic Principle

            In her book, Jose Van Dijick examines the idea of neoliberal economic principles and how the organization of social change is staked through this mode. Basically what she is saying is that platforms use the ideologies of popularity and ranking systems to keep people interested and active. I think that Essena’s recent actions support Van Dijick’s decision. Essena was trapped in the social media world. She was constantly thinking about her Instagram page, what photo to use next and how she was going to gain more followers. She became so popular that she was being paid for her account and companies were giving her money for endorsing their products. What really connects Essena deleting her Instagram account to Van Dijick’s neoliberal economic principle is the fact that Essena has always been obsessed with receiving the approval of other people. She was caught up in the idea that the more people who liked her account the more worthy she was as a person. Her life became completely consumed by the idea of getting more likes and receiving more followers that it began affecting her life. She would avoid eating and spend countless hours posing for pictures until she found one that was good enough. These companies she was hired by began to control her account and told her she was to pose when endorsing their products, what caption she should use and even the time of day she should post it. She was in love with the idea of social media because she was using it to measure her worth. This type of hierarchy attached to social media platforms effects almost all of us. It is what keeps us engaged with the app or website. We measure ourselves based on how popular we are in social media, if we are not constantly reminding people who we are by continually posting pictures of how "awesome" our lives are we do not exist. This notion has us checking our Instagram and Facebook feeds multiple times a day. It is also what ultimately lead to Essena’s break down near the end of her Instagram career. She finally understood the trap social media can cause and removed herself from the situation so she could learn to respect and love herself without the approval of others.