Essena O'Neil's Realizations of Social Media

When I first watched Essena O’Neil’s video I was intrigued by her stance and her passion in regards to social media’s power in today’s society. However, as I analyze this young and very whiny model’s video in an academic setting, it is apparent to me that Essena O’Neil states the obvious about social media’s business strategies, hence she addresses Jose Van Dijck’s theories of the culture of connectivity and has no idea she had done so.

In Jose Van Dijck’s entitled, “The Culture of Connectivity,” she discusses the concept of the neoliberal economic principle, which states that "connectivity derives from a continuous pressure from both peers and technology to expand through competition and gain power through strategic alliances" (21).  The neoliberal economic principle therefore perfectly connects with Essena’s motives for quitting social media. Essena is right to say that social media acts like a business, wherein an individual can build a career through this technology, but her argument that social media makes one’s life completely miserable is dramatized and is merely a generalization.

In this case, the neoliberal economic principle describes the ways in which social media platforms depend on its users to create content and compete with one another to gain the most followers, likes, or even views. It is human nature to engage in competitive behaviour and this is what defines the neoliberal economy principle. Social media users dedicate an overwhelming amount of time to post the best representations of themselves through photos and videos onto their social media accounts, such as Instagram. However, social media users only do this because they aspire to accumulate the most likes, followers, or shares, which they believe will enhance the quality of life. 

This is where Essena’s video comes into play, she clearly states in her 17 minute long ranting video that social media produces fake content and she is disgusted that everything she used to do was comprised of fabricated content, which made her followers assume that she “had it all.” Essena thus states that Instagram users who embody power and fame are actually miserable, since their online identity adds nothing to their real life. This may be true in some circumstances, however Essena made the choice to pursue modelling as a career, which typically requires her to create an aesthetically desirable, but potentially unrealistic image of herself on social media.

In addition, Essena explains how one can build a career through the use of their social media accounts, as users can easily advertise products and services to their millions of followers. I think Essena wished to warn society that capitalist companies will exploit a popular Instagram user’s fame by paying them to advertise particular products or services through the user’s social media account.

Nevertheless, I think that Essena’s rant stemmed from the fact that she only recently realized how manipulative social media is and how it provokes social competition among users to receive the most likes and followers. As a result, Essena never fully abandoned her online identity, as she now frequently updates her new website, “Let’s be Game Changers,” that only promotes a different version of herself. Essena seems to still not understand the power of social media and its ability to promote competitive behaviours between users.