When I first saw Essena O’Neil’s dramatic rant about how she is quitting social media and that people should not aspire to be these “Instagram celebrities”, at first I was rather impressed with her tenacity to expose the unauthentic realities of social media and the way individuals present themselves on these platforms to the world. However, as I continued to watch the video I began to realize that she is not the first, and certainly not the last, individual to call out social media for its’ one-sided perspectives. It has become a pop-culture trend for celebrities to take to social media in order to expose the “realities” behind their otherwise perfect image. This can be seen in celebrities posting unphotoshopped or natural pictures, as well as posting before and after images of what they look like with and without makeup. Essena certainly dramatized this trend to an entirely different level with her teary eyed and “poor me” attitude – but the commonalities are still there.
Van Dijk states, “Connectivity derives from
a continuous pressure—both from peers and technologies--to expand through
competition and gain power through strategic alliances. Platform tactics such as the popularity
principle and ranking mechanisms […] are firmly rooted in a ideology of that
values hierarchy, competition and a winner take all mindset,” (21). This
neoliberal principle can be related to Essena O’Neil’s recent actions as her entire 'career' was based off a hierarchal competition of who could become the most
popular, and receive the most endorsements on Instagram. And in a way, she
became lost in that lifestyle through her incessant need to obtain more
popularity through her social media.
I really enjoyed your post Danielle! Also enjoyed the meme that you included :). As I have noticed by reading through many of the blog posts, Van Dijck's argument of pressures within technology, and tactics used by those in a position of power really connects well to O'Neil's movement. I also enjoyed that you utilized the word "movement" in your blog title, as it pushes me to think about whether Essena's attempt to quit social media will indeed foster a movement of 'social media quitters'. So far, we have not heard of anyone following her foot steps, yet it makes me wonder if there is, and if so, would that be a good thing? Yes, we understand that social media consumes our lives and forces us to constantly be in this constant state of competition with ourselves, but isn't that was turns technology? Isn't it our determinism and the way we view ourselves the drive to progress technology?
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