When examining the work of Essena O'Neill, it is evident that her life was needing to be perfect due to her popularity on social media. In a recent video, Essena posts that she is quitting social media, and goes on to express how too much time is spent trying to make our lives seem perfect. This then puts pressure when we focus on having a high number of followers on various social media platforms.
While the video is overwhelming to watch, I do feel that Essena O'Neill's actions are supporting Van Dijck's arguments of neoliberal economic principles. If we examine the quote given, Dijck mentions "Connectivity derives from a continuous pressure—both from peers and technologies--to expand through competition and gain power through strategic alliances" (21). Here we see a key word, which is pressure. Many of us are aware the social media outlets, such as Facebook, Twitter, and especially Instagram, are simply ways in which individuals can share their lives with whom they wish, or with the public. The key thing is that it becomes what one wants to share. If someone is having a bad day, they do not post a selfie of themselves crying. If someone is going out and has made effort in the clothing they are wearing, or the make up they are wearing, they may feel more willing to post a photo. It becomes this sense of needing to live a perfect life. When other factors such as photo filters become available, this need to live up to a perfection standard is normalized.
Essena even says on her new website "Nothing is perfect about spending every single day making your life look perfect online. That is not real. That is not inspirational. There is so much more we could be doing than editing ourselves and proving ourselves to others." Essena had experiences the pressure because she was an internet and online celebrity, the expectation of living up to this 'perfect life' she appeared to have was heightened. Based on the video, we see that Essena has snapped from the pressure. From this, we can see that Essena O'Neill's actions are supporting Van Dijck's thoughts on neoliberal economic principles. 
hey i really enjoyed your post. I think you made a great point about the pressure to post pictures on Facebook that are only reflective of your best moments. In another one of my classes , we disused how people get'facebook depressed'. Meaning when they are having a bad day, and scroll through their news feed to only see that everyone else is having a great time, they begin to feel worse about themselves, and feel the need to have a better life. so through this connectivity that Van Dijck talks about, we feel a pressure to live up to others standards.
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