Throughout
the past couple of weeks, the world of social media has gained the spotlight as
Instagram and YouTube sensation Essena O’Neill created a video that spoke a
large volume to those globally regarding the inauthenticity of social media. With
over 500,000 followers this young Aussie decided to quit Instagram because she
believed it was not a real depiction of reality and projecting a perfect
lifestyle online was making her miserable. In her YouTube video “Why I REALLY
am quitting social media” Essena discusses the hidden truth to what she
believes we experience while looking at desirable photos online. After deleting
photos on her Instagram account and deleting other social media applications
O’Neill created a website and one of her first videos entitled “Why I think Social Media Sucks” stated:
"I can't tell you how free I feel without social media. Never again
will I let a number define me. IT SUFFOCATED ME. Not because I had 500,000
followers, I felt the same as a young girl, I would just spend hours looking at
everyone else's perfect lives and I strived to make mine look just as good...” (Business Insider).
This
quote by O’Neill emphasizes her misery that she endured when she came to the
realization that her social media accounts were not an accurate representation
of herself and were reducing her overall happiness.
Van
Dijck argues that connectivity develops through what he states as “a continuous
pressure – both from peers and technologies – to expand through competition and
gain power through strategic alliances” (21). It is evident that O’Neill along
with other users of social media application such as Instagram “gain power” in
terms of followers and likes through their “strategic alliances” which may
consist of the perfect lighting, clothing, location or selfie angle.
In
understanding this Internet sensational story I believe that current decisions
made by O’Neill support Van Dijck’s “neoliberal economic principles”. These
neoliberal economic principles that Van Dijck discusses ultimately surround the
idea that social media is fabricated, as individuals tend to be competitive
with one another. Competition arises in social media as users try to get the
most number of followers, likes and comments on a picture posted. Ultimately, this
popularity and notion of being “instagram famous” is something that users want
to gain as it provides them with satisfaction of being liked by thousands.
However, it is almost inevitable that there will always be others who will get
more likes than you or followers … unless you’re Bieber and half of the world
has “Bieber fever” for you. With this being said one can see why O’Neill left
her social media legacy behind as she wanted to restore her authentic, true
sense of self she was missing while having her “identity” online that hundreds
of thousands of people followed daily.
What
I find ironic out of all of this is how O’Neill may be getting even more attention
now than she was before as she has brought forth an controversial issue that is
sparking conversation worldwide to all Internet and social media users. What do
you think?
Hi Alexandria,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post on what its really like to be 'insta-famous'. I too believe that for many, the only prupose of participating in social media apps such as Instagram is to become insta-famous. The act of gaining likes and followers translates to being popular and becoming liked by peers, but for majority of users it is not likely. O'Neill's decision to quit social media demonstrates how the representations seen online are not always true. I personally believe this is the case for many of the Instagram accounts that I follow, but even though I am aware of this fact it does not make me want to click the "unfollow" button. How do you feel about the inauthenticity on Instagram? Does it change your opinion of some of the accounts you follow?
Thanks for the post, and the great pictures!
Hey Alex,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post about Essena O'Neill and about what it's like to be "Insta-Famous," which is an idea and phenomenon that our social media generation definitely becomes fixated on and intrigued about.
Your question that you posed at the end of your post made me think that O'Neill may have done this to gain even more popularity and gain more of a following that she already had before she posted her social media resignation video to YouTube. From "quitting social media," Essena O'Neill became even more popular and well known and even became more popular through social media websites. Perhaps she made this public outcry for even more attention. Hard to say for sure, but definitely something interesting to think about.
I agree with parts of you paper, however I would be interested to know how much of this was a publicity stunt. Van Dijck's Neoliberal Economic Principles explain how users of social media create content due to the pressure of fans and technology, however I would argue that her rise of popularity was born out of a personal desire to succeed. Essena likely did not feel as pressured as she did at the end than when she made her first post. I think the pressure was self inflicted due to her desire to grow in power. That being said her leaving Instagram helped her gain a tone of publicity. I'm not suggesting this was her motive, however it would be interesting to know what the true motives were.
ReplyDeleteJamie
Hi Alexandria,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post, and your inclusion of a discussion point was a great idea.
I can't help but admit that I had the same thought coming into my head while I was familiarizing myself with Essena's story. While what she has done might be fantastic for the Instagram community in helping to expose some of the alarming truths behind the mostly "fake" industry, she has arguably blown up into an even bigger name now. Using myself as an example, I had never heard of Essena before doing this assignment, and now I am familiar with all of her social media accounts, including her new start up project - so I wouldn't be surprised if this whole "big blowup" wasn't just a fake set up for something larger that she is ultimately looking to gain.