The book “The Happiness Effect, How Social Media is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost,” was written by Donna Freitas and Christian Smith wrote the Foreword. Freitas take a look at the different ways that young people view social media and the way that they feel about it. In providing a better view on this matter, Freitas uses a large number of online surveys whose data has been provided and personal interviews of students from various college campuses around the country. The discussions are in depth, and they present the real perception that young people have about social media. The study and research that is conducted by Donna Freitas revealed some surprising ways in which the young people interact and use social media sites such as Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to present their lifestyles in a well and carefully curated manner. The author also examines the different ways that the use of social media affects the life and lifestyle of the young people since the study is focused on the student, Freitas presents the many aspects of student life that are affected by the use of social media websites and services. The author notes that social media changes the lives of students from the academic perspective to their romantic engagements, religious affiliations, and their career choices. This shows how social media is a strong force among young people and why it should be considered as a dominant force among young people. In the book, Donna Freitas argues that the alarmist issues and fears about the influence of social media among young people are only meant to draw attention away from the real problems that are facing the young people in their daily lives. The author seeks to change the common perception of people that social media is a place where young people show off their happy moments and want others to see it, like it and make them feel good. However, this is not the case, from the interviews and surveys that were done, the expressions of the youth happiness are done differently. The thesis of the book is; The fears that social media is piling pressure on the young people is not valid, it only draws the attestation away from the real issues that are affecting the young people.
According to the findings of Freitas, social media has become one of the most dominant forces in the lives of the young people in the country today. Through the available platforms, the young people portray their lifestyle and events that take place in their lives each day. This has been an increasing trend that has seen many young people feel compelled to share their thoughts and the events that take place each day in the social networks; sometimes this information might get into the wrong hands. In many cases, the youth share issues that are affecting their personal lives and also information about things that happen in their lives. Because of this, many other people get to know about them and even their thoughts. Some believe that by sharing this information, many youths seek to get approval from their friends on the social networks so that they can have the feeling of happiness. However, Freitas disputes this concept. She states that even before the advent of social networks, young people found ways to share their experiences and thoughts, she adds that some share this information so that they can be able to get compassion from other people and not necessarily seek the effect of happiness. By showing that the young people do not necessarily share their experiences on social media to get approvals from other users on the social networks, Freitas shows how the pressure of social media is only diverting the attention of people from the real issues that affect the young people.
From the numerous studies and interviews that the author examined in this research, it was found out that the young people are not only concerned with the issues that they need to talk about and to some extent, but these issues also touch on happiness. However, young people still face a lot of pressure to look happy and perfect when interacting with other users on the online platform; this pressure is enormous because the young people need to make sure that they ecstatic, blissful and they also have to look as successful as they are expected to be by the society. In most cases, achieving this is nearly impossible, and the young people end up sharing information about themselves that they need the other people to need to see. The young people carefully curate the aspects of their personal life that they share on social media, they mostly focus on the positive aspects of their lives and avoid the negative aspects. The young people are brutally selective, and this means that people cannot be able to know about the issues that affect the youth, through this, the author can show how the use of social media presents a different view about the young people. They present themselves as successful and happy individuals; this draws the attention of people away from the real issues that affect the young people.
According to Freitas, public attention is usually focused on the stories that grab the headlines and the issues that affect the young people are not given the attention that they require anymore. It should be understood that young people go through a lot of struggles in their personal life yet the pressures of social media and the society makes them share the aspects of their lives that gives the wrong impression that they are happy. The author of this book interacts with the young people and shows the struggles that they go through to make sure that they appear happy and prosperous. This is an impact that the use of social media has had on the youth especially students. The real lifestyle and struggles of the youth are not presented making it hard for attention to be given to this issues.
