By Key Fontaine | Contributing Writer
Y2K fashion, vinyl records, digital cameras, and more, are all making major comebacks thanks to younger people, mostly Gen Z. For a demographic that seemingly appreciates a more vintage style and culture, there is one discrepancy, the overwhelming presence of social media in their everyday lives.
With so many platforms to choose from in its current state, it appears to be nearly impossible for younger people to make the move away from social media. Social media behaves almost like an addiction for many. There are periods of going without, maybe efforts to cut back on usage, yet we almost always observe the inevitable return.
The “Cool” Olympics
When you truly observe younger people, you will come to find that many have a deep fear of being perceived negatively by their peers, a fear of being deemed “uncool” or “cringe” if you will. Social media can actually be the reason for this, as there is almost always at least one person ready to record, photograph, or worst of all, share.
If someone uploads something “embarrassing” or “cringey”, it can easily be shared even outside of the original platform. The result has led to a sort of cool Olympics, where there is a focus on crafting the perfect image for social media to see, an image deemed acceptable enough to avoid embarrassment, often at the cost of authenticity (this is a generalization, as many also post freely without fear of judgment!)
This is why I think there will never be a time where we see this demographic make the move away from social media, and it is also why I believe current articles that claim they are “quitting” to be misleading. While we may observe an effort to be on the apps less amongst some younger individuals, quitting would imply the deletion of apps, and ultimately, personal accounts.
If you were to ask any younger person with a social media account to delete one of their accounts altogether, even with the offer of a reward, they’d probably decline. These accounts are carefully curated to best reflect their owners and their positive traits, often via deception. People want to seem popular so they may keep their following lower than their followers; people want to look smaller/bigger so they may edit their photos.
When these accounts are this deeply intertwined with self identity and essentially a showcase of the individual, the “moving away” that we observe tends to manifest not as deletion, but as brief periods of inactivity, either through less frequent usage or deactivation. However, as noted before, we almost always see a return back to the apps.
Professionally? Everything is Digital
Moving away from the personal allows the lens to shift onto the professional. When almost everything is digital, a strong social media presence and understanding can be the difference between landing a job and not.
Recently, there has been much emphasis on using LinkedIn which is essentially social media in the professional realm. The app involves creating a profile, a description, and having a high number of connections displayed to appear qualified (sound familiar?)
Even in the entertainment industry, there has been much outrage and frustration around the heavy consideration of social media followers for gaining opportunities. In almost every industry, it is common to find that numerous companies are searching for people strong in social media marketing, one of the most important forms of marketing as of today.
When high connections and strong social media skills are emphasized more than ever, do young people truly even have the choice to move away from social media and its structure?
DISCLAIMER:
The opinions presented on this page do not represent the views of the PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect the perspectives of contributing writers and/or university community members.
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