What does the technology reverse?
People are innately interested in seeing themselves. I know this because when I take a photo of my children, they immediately ask to see it. They are just kids, but from the time they were able to recognise themselves in a mirror, they have been interested in their own image.
We are currently in a social media age, where we constantly share and consume media on our mobile devices, tablets, laptops and desktop computers. One of the most consumable of all social media channels is Instagram, where an average of 10 selfies are posted every 10 seconds, according to Paige Meyer in her blog post: The Selfie Generation.
While it is nice to be able to take a photo of oneself from time to time, this isn't how the culture of the selfie is progressing. As Meyer points out, we can easily get addicted to the immediate positive response we receive on social media when we post selfies:
As seen in a recent study posted by the American Marketing Association, whenever one gets a like on social media, dopamine is released within the brain giving a natural “high” which the body craves constantly over time. This conditioned stimulus can be compared to the feeling of a hug, dinner date or even completing a killer workout, thus causing an endless cycle of questioning one’s self, being overly concerned with external opinions and ultimately leading to mental health issues.
This is a troubling effect of the technology on society today.
Comments
Post a Comment