Social Media and its Impact on Society
Social media revolutionized the way we communicate as a society and is the focus of a 2014 PBS documentary titled Generation Like. The video explores the power of social communities as well as the impact that they have on the development of teenagers growing up in this interconnected world. On the surface, it appears that this younger generation has a higher affinity for social connections and thus exhibits higher levels of social cohesion. However, as the video shows, social media results in a generation of people who grow up with the cult of personality forming a significant part of how they identify as themselves and interact with others.
The Superficiality of Online Engagement
The power of expression is clear in the ways that individuals and even companies engage in the online world. The inclusion of a corporate agenda in these interactions makes for superficial engagements that gratify the online generation's need for recognition in ways that ensure profits for them as individuals and brands. However, the dependence that this places on receiving attention from others in an overcrowded space makes both ordinary people and celebrities resort to performing outrageous stunts to gain or retain fame. The monetization of this engagement process thereby paves the way for extreme competition that alienates people from each other even as they seek to establish themselves as brands and super fans or engage and share content.
The Culture of Sharing and Its Consequences
While the instant gratification of receiving "likes" for published content inspires the online generation to keep posting content, it is the culture of sharing that fuel the phenomenon. The result is a convoluted value system in which the younger generation uses the sharing culture imposed upon them on each other. The anomie in this system is evident in the emptiness of these activities since the negative attitudes associated with selling out identities or dreams for fame no longer apply to guide people's actions on social media. Overall, the video shows the underlying commercial agenda underlying the values that members of the online generation copy and utilize to perpetuate a culture of defining their selves through the content they engage with, share, or commune around on social media platforms.
Works Cited
Frontline. “Generation Like.” (February 18 2014). PBS, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/generation-like/
