By: Jocelyn Schwalm
“How many likes did it get?”
“Maybe you didn’t post it at the right time.”
“Don’t worry, it’s only been up for 20 minutes!”
It’s an art form knowing when and where to post something to get the most “likes.” Finding that key time has become somewhat of an obsession among millennials. Some companies dedicate their business to buying fake positive feedback for posts—money well-spent for a temporarily boosted self-esteem. But why is it that we are so desperate for this sense of approval? What is it turning us into?
A group of Toronto teens decided to take a step back and take a look at just that. Using art as the medium, they are magnifying the effects of holding our self-worth up to the amount of positive clicks we get on a post. Social media has similar effects on our brain to drug addiction, and it appears the more socially anxious and insecure, the more often the user is likely to use social media as the double-edged sword of outside approval.
The more positive feedback an individual receives on social media, the stronger the addiction grows, and thus the cycle continues. The information we tend to broadcast on social media is of our most densely edited selves, presenting ourselves in such a way that our actual selves could never possibly compete. The group of Toronto teens decided to come together to offer their personal experiences of mental health issues stemming from the overuse of social media. The group uses “expressive art therapy” to exhibit the ways in which social media is influencing their mental health. The art show targeted teens and young adults as a means of opening up about their insecurities.
Jessica Whyte, participated in the event by showcasing photos of magnified body parts of which she feels the most insecure. She says that all her life these are the parts of herself she has struggled to accept. The introduction of this art exhibit is making it easier for teens and young adults to have a conversation about what these social media sites are doing to our psyches, even if a lot of the time it is subconscious and they may not realize it is even harming them.
The art exhibit is bringing to light the subtle destruction of the teen ego. So many mindlessly scroll through their feeds on a daily basis, while the underlying message of never being enough is being reiterated in their brains. These brave teens have highlighted their insecurities so the rest of the world won’t feel so alone.
Another artist, Michaela, who chose to remain somewhat anonymous, discussed how she feels when she looks in the mirror. To portray her insecurity through art, she used broken pieces of mirror to mimic a distorted self-image. A third artist, Roshawn Williams chose to display a photograph of himself where one side of his portrait is covered in darkness, while the other side is light. This photograph communicates the way in which we only display our “lighter” side on social media while trying to mislead others into thinking that this is the only side that exists within us.
Williams wanted to make it clear that he has problems in his life, even if he isn’t always eager to display those problems online. The vulnerability presented through these art exhibits connects the teens participating to those observing.
Almost everybody feels that they don’t measure up to the version of themselves on social media, and we can relish in the fact that this feeling is shared universally. It might be time to take a step back from our online lives and start paying more attention to what it is doing to us and our mental health.
Image sources: istock, thestar.com
