Unpopular Culture … Or is it?

An example of a status on Facebook.

A popular idea of social media is that some of its aspects contribute to the apparent negative impacts popular culture has on American society. For instance, a key example of a negative impact social media has on society is specifically with Facebook or Twitter; many users feel the need to inform all of their friends or followers, and essentially the world, on what they are doing or experiencing at any given moment.

Example of a status and comments on Facebook.

Let me analyze this from a mostly unbiased point of view using Facebook as an example. To begin, Facebook is a social media website which allows individuals, groups or companies to connect with each other through the websites features of updating statuses, uploading pictures, updating personal interests otherwise known as ‘favorites’, commenting on each other’s profiles and statuses, sending private and instant messages to each other and playing online flash games with each other . According to the video on Facebook’s front page, the website is meant to allow people to connect with each other and share anything in order to build a place where humans belong; essentially, Facebook is meant to remind humans with Internet access that they are not alone and they belong in this great, big world.

Before Facebook rose to popularity, humans connected very often through the use of email, sending text messages via cellular devices, speaking face-to-face, over the phone or via web cameras (for the most part – I do realize there are other forms of communication which have been or currently is implemented). The point of bring up other communication forms is to point out the fact that because the use of Facebook is incredibly widespread amongst the majority of age-ranges and amongst people around the world, numerous individuals appear to prefer communicating on Facebook more so than any other form available. Due to this apparent preference, many humans have incorporated using Facebook into many aspects of their lives. For instance, if I wanted to incorporate Facebook into my life to the best of my ability, I would most certainly wish to connect with other people by sharing what happens in my life on Facebook as it happens instead waiting until the next time I see them in order to transfer this information. An example of this would be if I got a new dog and I wanted to use Facebook to share this fact, I would (1) post a status updating my friends that I got a new dog, (2) upload pictures about this dog, and (3) send private/instant messages to some of my closer friends gushing about my dog and perhaps asking them how I should go about raising the animal. From an outside perspective, I could seem very enthusiastic about getting a dog or, to the friends who simply do not care; I could seem annoying because from their perspective, why should they care if I get a dog if it’s very unlikely to affect them? This here rests the problem with updates on Facebook because my example happens a lot with a lot of people about a lot of topics, with an outside appearance of being for the “sharing/connecting with friends” feature, but I wonder if there’s an underlying reason as to why this happens.

 

Let me reaffirm the idea that there is perhaps oversharing, which is a problem. I just logged onto Facebook and I’m going to check my newfeed, this is what I see:

#1 Person 1: “Just gonna work on it all. That what everyone wants, right? v(^~)”

#2 Person 2: A picture of person 2 at a party.
#3 Person 3: An album of pictures of a friend at a party.
#4 Person 4: “Lesson learned. Any excuse for not taking notes in a college math class is a bad one... Take notes”
#5 Person 4: “Went rock climbing. That was fun, haven't done it in a while.”
#6 Person 4: A video of someone puking.
#7 Person 5: A picture of their daughter.
#8 Person 5: “Lol....guess who didnt set their clocks back.....yep me...oh well up bright and early for church :)”
#9 Person 6: “Had the most awesome day with this chick.”
#10 Person 7: “Today is my daughter’s b-day.”
#11 Person 8: “I had a terrible Halloween.”
#12 Person 9: “Doesn't it just bug the hell you of u when u text some and they don't text back. Or is it just me?”
#13 Person 10: “Hey guess what...................................................Baby Hippo!!!”

I am absolutely serious when I state that everything within the quotation marks is letter-for-letter.

Regardless of how close I am to any one of the 10 people, this is what I feel about the posts: #1 is very vague. I didn’t go to the parties #2 and #3 attended so I’m not too interested in those posts. #4: I thought it was common sense to take notes in college, especially in any math course which most people find difficult to follow. #5: Okay. #6: Disgusting. #7: I don’t know her. #8: How am I supposed to respond to this…? Too bad for them, I guess. #9: I don’t know the girl, but good for them, I guess. #10: Good for her. #11: That’s too bad. #12: Perhaps the person was busy…? #13: Okay. From my point of view, I do not see why I should be interested in these types of posts and so, I would assume at least some other individuals feel the same. It makes me wonder, why do people post these types of posts? What do the readers gain? What do the posters gain? Why is this trend acceptable in current society?

I have come to the conclusion that Facebook users post these personal, vague and seemingly unimportant (to other people) posts in order to satisfy the “reward” part of their brain. I believe the theme of posting these types of posts initially appears as an impolite and underhanded way to confirm one’s importance level in society and essentially gain attention. The individuals who post vague, seemingly unimportant posts have tied their worth to everyone but themselves - to them, completeness comes from other people knowing them better, not from knowing themselves better. This idea is similar to the times when individuals always wrote in journals, except Facebook has become the journal and for the most part, these journal entries are read and viewed by many others (depending on the privacy settings). In the end, readers satisfy the “nosy” part of their psyche by gaining insight into many other’s lives without necessarily communicating with those individuals. This trend is acceptable in current society because both readers and posters gain something from every post – posters satisfy the “reward” center in their brain and readers satisfy their curiosity without breaking any societal code.