Self Portrayal is an Important Topic that is Affecting Most on Social Media as well as in their Mental Health State

No matter how old one can be, self-portrayal is something that affects one while using social media. 

“We define social network sites as web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site."

Social networking sites are center stage in today’s world. People nationwide are using various examples of these sites to share their personal lives with others around them in the media world. Whether it’s writing a status on Facebook, a tweet on twitter, or sharing a photo on Instagram or Snapchat, just to name a few, our lives are being seen by everyone around us through this world we call social media.

The concept of presenting our ideal selves versus our real selves has become more and more prevalent on social media.

The element of self-portrayal is something that has become an important concept. We want to show our best selves to the ones who are viewing our profiles, whether it be for social gain or gain in the career world. “As the use of social media continues to evolve; the concept of presenting our ideal selves versus our real selves has become more and more prevalent on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, and even LinkedIn."

These two alter egos as some would call it give off a confusing take about what social media is really about, and how self portrayal really changes what you would post on a certain site depending on what you want to get out of it.

I interviewed David Levine, a licensed attorney who grew up during the rise of social media. He gives his take about how others represent themselves on social media when they are looking to get a job working for his firm.

I took a survey that was directed towards mostly the undergraduate age. In it I asked questions pertaining to portrayal on social media.

When asked which social media platform the surveyed felt most comfortable posting on, the results are as follows.

It’s alarming how many of the people surveyed chose Instagram rather than any of the other social media platforms. I would have chosen Instagram as well for my social media platform that I feel most comfortable using.

When it comes to using your social media, most use their best judgment in making sure their posts put them in a good light.

With the abundance of sites that people use to connect, there comes an element of media ethics that one should follow when using them. Ethics have to do with moral principles. And morals have to do with a person’s ideals of right and wrong. When it comes to using your social media, most use their best judgment in making sure their posts put them in a good light. Depending on what site they are on depends on how formal or informal the post may be. Facebook, Instagram and snapchat may be more informal while LinkedIn would be extremely formal. However it’s important to make sure what you post will not get you into trouble. Everything on the internet is there forever. Here are two examples of photos. One is a photo that shows good public relations, while the other is something one may not want to post in the event that a company may see it in the future.

“Mass communication and social media are key, and building mutual understanding and good relationships is emphasized as much as is influencing public opinion” (Converging Media 275). Public opinion is important for businesses more than personal wealth, but building a good relationship with those around in the social media world is something that you as a user can benefit from in the long run.

A social media user is going to put out their messages in a completely different way depending on the platform they use, as well as the ones who would view it. Blogs as well as twitter follow a mass-communication through interpersonal communication model. Viewers can interact at the touch of a mouse (Converging Media 25). Some of the sites have a more formal feel to them while others are more informal. From a personal account, Facebook and twitter may be considered informal, but if they are being used from a business account they have to be more formal. That can be said about LinkedIn, except your account has to be formal because it is a business site.

So if you are looking to appeal to a certain demographic you may post things in a different way.

For some who are not looking to appeal to others who they wish to be hired by, they are posting for pure enjoyment. Using informal social media sites where online friends can only view their statuses and photos is a common way to use free expression. However some may be insecure about what they post, in the fear that not all will approve. I took a survey and the results are as follows.

Some even feel that social media has given them another place to feel insecure about. This is enough to lead to depression.

More than not, people have admitted to feeling insecure while posting on social media. In today’s world, magazines are influencing the ways some people see themselves. There is this stereotypical model of how people should look, and that has led to eating disorders and other mental disorders as well. This is serious. But these magazines that have skinny models are not the only place where people are getting this image. Some even feel that social media has given them another place to feel insecure about. This is enough to lead to depression. In another survey I display the results of people surveyed who know of someone who has developed a mental illness due to social media.

The effects of self-portrayal on social media on mental health are something that should not go unnoticed. “Those who said their lives had been worsened by using social media also reported feeling less confident when they compared their achievements against their friends." The usage is not likely to end anytime soon regardless of the negative impacts it has on ones personal self.

Pressures of the environment around us are what keep us from doing certain things. One may or may not post something because of what others will say, because influence is so strong.

Social media has changed how we see ourselves. With the development of likes, as well as the accessibility of others to be able to see what we post, the effects change depending on person to person. We will change what we post depending on what platform we use. And there are different ways to be successful in the media world. 

A girl who was never a video game fanatic, but rather had a phase where she played the Wii

A game which was popular in 2006 is now remembered as an important childhood pastime.

I would never describe myself as someone who loved videogames. As a young girl I played with dolls and the toy kitchen I had in my house, but I never sat in front of the television to sit with a remote control for hours upon end. Until one specific product came out. The Wii. The moment I saw it appear on my tv screen I knew it was something I needed to own. So for Hanukkah I begged my parents to get it for me. Being the oldest of three girls, I knew my sisters and I would love to have something like this to entertain ourselves, as well as our friends we would have over all the time.

The Wii is a video game consul created by Nintendo in 2006. It comes with a port, as well as a remote to use. 

            Whenever I was over at a friend’s house that had a brother, he would always be playing violent games. Things like that never interested me. So I think the reason that the Wii excited me so much was that there were really no violent games advertised for this product. Another thing that excited me was their element of sports. You could use the controller to play any sport you wanted. Being someone with zero athletic ability, this was a way I could play any sport provided on the program, and not have to worry about incoordination. As long as you had adequate space available in a room, you were free to flail your arms as much as you wanted and not have to worry about moving objects hitting you in the process.
              I remember when I was younger I would go to my cousins house and play with their x box Rock Band. I never had the opportunity to play the drums or the guitar so even as a young girl I enjoyed this. Soon after the Wii came out, they offered their own version of Rock Band. I had to have it. Rock Band was probably the coolest game that the wii offered. It gave everyone a chance to play together. With 4 controllers everyone could play a different instrument in the game and play together. And once again, you needed to have minimal talent to play this game, so it made me as a young girl feel like I had musical abilities. The game also exposed us to older music we had never heard before. Classic rock songs that my parents used to listen to or songs we would rarely hear on the radio were the song choices. It was nice to learn something from an older generation while still doing an activity that was very current.

            A classic game that people on any Nintendo device have heard of was Super Mario Brothers. There was a plethora of variations of this game. Everyone knew who Mario and Luigi were, so it was a fun game when you got to choose the different characters you wanted to play as. I had Super Mario Brothers on my Nintendo DS, so it was cool to see them come alive bigger on my television screen.

           

           People altogether found more excitement with their cell phones alone, rather than group activities around a television.

          My sisters and I played with our Wii for what seems like maybe a year or two. We were always playing new games that we would see advertised on commercials. But after some time we just lost interest. There began to be new ways to entertain us. The rise in Netflix as well as well as other activities became more exciting for younger kids, and older kids that I knew started to grow out of it. I think the reason I stopped playing was just because it wasn’t keeping my attention for long anymore. Also, some of the games required movement and I was either too exhausted from other activities to do it, or just didn’t want to get up. And if you don’t get up you don’t get the full experience and don’t do well in the game. The iphone started getting big around that time as well. The iphone had many games you could play in the palm of your hand rather than looking at a television screen. People altogether found more excitement with their cell phones alone, rather than group activities around a television.

            As I talked about earlier, there was no violence in the videogames that I played on the Wii, which was one of the reasons I chose it over another game system. However, violence in videogames is one of the main concerns when it comes to videogames itself. Some think that the violence can affect a person in a negative way in the future. Others disagree, but the debate still exists. The content from the Rock Band game was taken from various areas of pop culture specifically having to do with music, as well as fashion. And within the games there were massively multiplayer online games, as well as massively multiplayer online role-playing games. The chapter explains that players of early console games have grown up and continued to play. I didn’t start playing at a young age, so this connects in the way that I don’t continue to play today.

Some statistics of behavior which is responsive to which type of video game someone plays. 

Question 6 Page 184

The HitClip down spiral are foreshadowing of illegal music downloads

This is a photo of the popular 90s music player called HitClips. This photo was taken in the late 1990s. HitClips were made by Tiger Electronics, and were popular for around 5 years. They were first distributed by McDonalds with Happy Meals, but then the excitement made these popular outside of the restaurant chain as well. In 1999 this music device made Tiger Electronics approximately $80 million. Some say they would have rather spent their money on a real mp3 player than on individual clips themselves. HitClips reached out to singers and bands ranging from the Backstreet Boys, to Aaron Carter, to NSYNC. Each clip contained one song, and you had to buy the player as well. Although the excitement of these didn't last for a very long time there is a great similarity that is found between these HitClips and music today. People stopped buying HitClips because it was getting pricey to buy the individual clips themselves for just one song. And today we find that more and more people are downloading music illegally because of the lack of wanting to pay for songs on iTunes individually. 

Hi, my name is Rachel. I am a freshman at the University of Maryland in College Park. I am from Long Island, New York. I have declared communications as my major, and public relations within that major. In my spare time I like to spend time with friends and family, and bake. I love instagram and posting pictures of my food. I am not a fan of the winter, and would much rather be sitting on a beach, than wearing a winter coat.