Essena O’Neill recently went public about her experiences with social media and about how she no longer will be participating in any online social media platform. Essena was so wrapped up in social media and she expresses in her video that what she was doing actually ended up really scaring her because she knew that none of it was “real”. Essena’s recent actions regarding her resignation from social media is supportive of Van Dijck’s “neoliberal economic principles”. In her video about why she is quitting social media, Essena explained to her viewers that social media is all about business and she says that companies know how to use social media to their advantage in order to be more profitable and successful.
Jose Van Dijck says that connectivity comes from a pressure about expansion and gaining power through alliances (Van Dijck 21). This can be related to the pressure that Essena felt from maintaining her image on social media which she expresses in her video. While this example of Essena definitely speaks to what Van Dijck says about connectivity and social media, the pressure that Essena felt did not fully come from her online following but also came from the pressure that she put on herself, for years, to maintain that following.
I find it interesting that Essena took such a strong stance about quitting social media but used social media to inform all of her followers, and the rest of the world, that she would be quitting social media. What do you think about Essena’s approach to how she quit social media?
Hey Mikayla,
ReplyDeleteIn today’s world, Instagram has the power to make people famous and influential, and O’Neill happened to be one of the people. At first, this was the life she wanted, but after a while of living the “dream life”, she realized that there was much more to life than likes, fans, and comments and from there, she decided to start rejecting social media. On one hand, I appreciate her intentions of bringing light to the negative consequences of social media. However, I do not like how she overgeneralized and assumed that everyone who uses social media is fake and miserable. I also didn’t like how she used her YouTube video to basically advertise another use of social media… I’m sure you can agree. Either way, great post and Happy Holidays to you! :)
I agree with you Mikayla. I believe that the pressures that Essena felt were not from fans and technology, but were instead economic pressures to make as much money as possible. It was a desire for power and fame, which I believe was the driving factor behind the posts. We could argue that the driving factor of what to post was user based, however I don't believe Essena really cared what people thought, but perhaps only cared what people would consume. It was not a personal pressure, but an economic pressure... if that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteJamie