I. Introduction
Social media has undeniably changed the way the world functions. Globalization has provided a world with few limitations as far as travel and information exchange are concerned, and one of the most interesting aspects of the changing nature of the world is the way that humanity has adapted to use the new technologies available. While there has long been a fear that humanity would use technology for evil-- indeed, much of Victorian and science fiction literature is concerned with the nature of technology and what happens when humanity fails to use technology in an ethical manner-- those who have written about technology often failed to foresee the banality of the future. Today, people in America have the ability to access most of the collective knowledge of the human species via smartphone; instead of doing so, these incredible pieces of technology are used to argue with people, send messages, and connect over social media.
The purpose of discussion here is not to denigrate the use of social media, nor is the purpose to decry social media and social media networking for pleasure as negative for society as a whole. Instead, the purpose is to discuss the ways that social media has changed American culture and American cultural norms, with the hope of digging into the aforementioned banal usage of these technological marvels. Without an understanding of the way social media changes social interaction, social norms, and the structural makeup of culture as a whole, it will be difficult for humanity to continue to grow and thrive.
II. Social Media: A Primer and Background
Most Americans are well aware of a variety of different social media platforms. Culturally-preferred social media platforms change quickly, often without warning; for example, MySpace was a long-time social media favorite before Facebook burst onto the scene, effectively ending MySpace usage among its target audience (Kaplan and Haenlein). Eid and Ward write:
Social networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs have evolved as a result of Web 2.0 concepts and new media technologies. Millions of people around the globe, through social networking (internal, external, or mobile) are recently building online local, regional, and global communitiesThe use of new media and social networks (e.g. MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn) has implications for society, culture, and politics [as well as] related issues such as: social identity, privacy, distance learning, social capital, socio-psychological effects of the web, misuse of cyberspace, Diaspora, social status, and access to information (Eid and Ward 2).
Eid and Ward go on to note that the rise of social media has been linked both to positive changes, like increased participation in communities for people who have difficulties with “real life” interaction, as well as negative changes, like increased risks of suicide, depression, and abuse (Eid and Ward 2).
Social media functions primarily by allowing individuals to share things about their lives with others inside (and outside) their social circle; people can and have become real-world famous as a result of their activities on social media. Social media platforms like Instagram allow the user to become a producer of media, while other sites like Pinterest allow the user to share content and retain content for a later time (Barker). Barker notes that there are primarily two separate types of social media platforms. The first is a platform that allows the user to produce content, and the second is a platform that allows the user to consume content. Barker notes that these two platforms are not mutually exclusive; Instagram, Barker notes, allows for both production of content via photography and consumption of others’ work, but it is primarily a platform that exists for the production of content. Facebook is a similarly hybrid platform, as it allows for both sharing of original content and the consumption of others’ content (Barker). Pinterest, on the other hand, is primarily consumptive; users use the platform to share others’ content, rather than their own (Barker). Examining how certain social media platforms work allows for the consideration of the changes that these platforms can make on social and cultural norms within society. In the following section, the construction of identity and the role social media plays in the construction of identity will be examined.
III. Social Identity, Networking, and Social Media
Much of human identity is tied closely to the community that the individual is a part of. Creating online communities allows the individual to be a part of unique communities that exist only in cyberspace. Social media undoubtedly has affected the ways in which individuals build their identities within American culture. Pugh writes:
Social networking Websites (SNWs) provide a medium for users to express themselves beyond physical features and labels, to share experiences, discuss interests, and influence one another in a selective network. In addition, social networking websites are not constrained by the same geographic boundaries as real life networks; allowing users to make and develop relationships with individuals of similar interests around the world. Lastly, SNWs provide an optimal format for users to keep a ‘personal narrative going” in which they “integrate events which happen in the external world, and sort them into an ‘ongoing’ story about the self’(Pugh 2).
Pugh goes on to state that one of the reasons that virtual communities are so effective for creating identity is because of the concept of the mask (Pugh 4). Pugh suggests that virtual communities can provide shelter and a cloistered environment for those who may be victims of harassment in the general population. For instance, Harrison and Thomas point to the use of social media by gay and lesbian groups within geographic locales that are not sympathetic to gay and lesbian lifestyles as one of the prime examples of ways that social media can be used to help create and protect identity.
Harrison and Thomas suggest that identity formation online is particularly strong among young women, as they are often the victims of low-self-esteem during their formative teenage years (Harrison and Thomas). They suggest that the reason young women become so engaged in social media is because social media allows for social connection without the same potential for humiliation among peers. Social constraints online are different from social constraints that exist in the so-called “real world;” the allowance for the creation of an online entity or persona allows the individual to explore his or her identity much more completely than he or she would be able to in person. A social media site, according to Harrison and Thomas, is an idealized version of the individual, almost the creation of a character that the individual wishes that he or she could play in his or her life. Creating this identity is a way for the individual to explore the characteristics that he or she wishes to express.
IV. Social Media and Changing Cultural Norms
Changing forms of communication always pose difficulties across generational divides, but none so much as the shift into virtual reality. Technology has changed so drastically within the past century that the technology of the 1950s is not only obsolete, it is nearly unrecognizable to young people of today (Barker). In addition to changing modes of communication, however, one of the other significant changes has been changing expectations of privacy in the world today.
Today, it is more common than ever for people to be constantly plugged into their social media networks. Smartphones allow for constant updates, and certain applications and social media platforms are designed specifically for smartphone use. Instagram is a fantastic example of this type of social media platform. Essentially, all people have become walking journalists; Twitter and the blogosphere sometimes are more up-to-date than official news stations, especially when disaster strikes. Along with this constant connection to others, people are less connected with the world around them; Barker suggests that smartphone and computer use will quickly outstrip television time for the average American in the near future. This marks a significant change in the social culture of the United States, and potentially marks a shift in trend on a global scale.
V. Legal Issues Regarding Social Media
One of the issues that has come up recently, particularly in regards to young people utilizing social media, is the issue of cyber-bullying or cyber-harassment. Pugh suggests that in the past, young people who fell victim to bullies and other forms of harassment were free from those forms of harassment once they left the location of the harassment; in the age of the Internet, it is no longer possible for individuals to truly disengage from their harassers if those abusers choose to engage with their victims on the Internet. Abelson, Ledeen, and Lewis write, “In 2006, a 13-year-old girl, Megan Meier of Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, made friends online with a 16-year-old boy named ‘Josh.’ When ‘Josh’ turned against her, writing ‘You are a bad person and everybody hates you. The world would be a better place without you,’ Megan committed suicide. Along with its dazzling riches and vast horizons, the Internet has created new manifestations of human evil” (Abelson, Ledeen, and Lewis). This is a prime example of the extent of cyber-bullying, and the potentially fatal effects that cyber-bullying can have on its victims.
There have been numerous reports in recent years of young people being driven to suicide by harassment on social media, along with the creation of fake social media profiles as a method for harassing individuals (Barker). In addition, Barker and Pugh both note that most of those harassed online tend to be women and girls, stating that women are more likely to fall victim to stalkers and abusers that use social media sites like Facebook as a way of continuing harassment around the clock.
The issue of abuse on social media sites has become so important in recent years that anti-stalking and anti-harassment laws have been extended to cover the Internet and various social media sites that are commonly used. This is because laws that were designed to stop harassment, stalking and abuse were written well before the invention of social media sites like Facebook, MySpace, and so on; these laws did not take into account the many different facets that are required when trying to legislate behavior on the Internet. Even with these laws in place, it is difficult to legislate behavior on the Internet, because once something is posted on the Internet-- a picture or a video, for instance-- it is most likely there permanently. Lawmakers in the United States are still struggling to deal with the potential issue of privacy rights in a world where privacy is becoming increasingly scarce.
VI. Conclusion
Claiming social media use as wholly bad or wholly good is irresponsible. Social media is a tool, and like all tools, the positives and the negatives of this tool lie entirely with those who are responsible for utilizing it. Like a hammer, social media can be used to build and create, or it can be used to tear down and destroy. While there should be restrictions on how social media is used to avoid abuse, making attempts to ban social media use ignores the shifting tides of technological advancement. Social media may be abused by individuals, but it may also be abused by governmental entities or corporations that are aggregating information about the consumer. All users should be careful about the information they place on social media sites, but again, this is not the fault of the platform; people merely need to be more careful and cognizant of the information they share publicly.
Works cited
Abelson, Harold, Ken Ledeen and Harry R Lewis. Blown to bits. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley, 2008. Online.
Barker, Valerie. "A generational comparison of social networking site use: the influence of age and social identity." The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 74. 2 (2012): 163--187. Online.
Cover, Rob. "Performing and undoing identity online: Social networking, identity theories and the incompatibility of online profiles and friendship regimes." Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 18. 2 (2012): 177--193. Online.
Debatin, Bernhard. "The Routinization of Social Network Media. A Qualitative Study on Privacy Attitudes and Usage Routines among Facebook Users." Neue Kommunikations-und Interaktions-formen als Herausforderung der Medienethik, (): 13. Online.
Eid, Mahmoud and Stephen JA Ward. "Ethics, new media, and social networks." Global Media Journal-Canadian Edition, 2. 1 (2009): 1--4. Online.
Harrison, Richard and Michael Thomas. "Identity in online communities: Social networking sites and language learning." International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society, 7. 2 (2009): 109--124. Online.
Kaplan, Andreas M and Michael Haenlein. "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media." Business horizons, 53. 1 (2010): 59--68. Online.
Larsen, Malene Charlotte. "Understanding social networking: On young people’s construction and co-construction of identity online." Internet Research, 8. (2007): Online.
Long, J, M Welch, P Bramham, J Butterfield, K Hylton and E Lloyd. "Count Me In: The Dimensions of Social Inclusion through Culture, Media \& Sport." Department for Culture, Media \& Sport, (2002): Online.
Marwick, Alice. "'I’ma Lot More Interesting than a Friendster Profile': Identity Presentation, Authenticity and Power in Social Networking Services." Association of Internet Researchers, 6. (2005): Online.
Pugh, Jessica Lee. "A Qualitative Study of the Facebook Social Network: the desire to influence, associate, and construct a representative and ideal identity." (2010): Online.
Regenberg, Alan C. "Tweeting science and ethics: social media as a tool for constructive public engagement." The American Journal of Bioethics, 10. 5 (2010): 30--31. Online.
Rotman, Dana, Sarah Vieweg, Sarita Yardi, Ed Chi, Jenny Preece, Ben Shneiderman, Peter Pirolli and Tom Glaisyer. "From slacktivism to activism: participatory culture in the age of social media." (2011): 819--822. Online.
