Blog Post 2: Analyzing Katherine's Anxieties From the Social Construction of Technology Perspective
A particular quote that stuck out to me was:
“I don’t feel like a child anymore” she says. “I’m not doing anything childish. At the end of sixth grade” — when all her friends got phones and downloaded Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter — “I just stopped doing everything I normally did. Playing games at recess, playing with toys, all of it, done.” (Contrera, 2016)
When I think back to when I was thirteen, my life was vastly different from Katherine’s. A few students had cellphones at the time but it was primarily for parents to reach out to their children, especially if they participated in extracurricular activities. I remember being ecstatic for recess because that was my opportunity to socialize and catch up with my friends. We would play games and talk right up until the bell rang, which signified that our time to socialize was over and we would return to our classrooms to resume learning. However, for Katherine, the process of socialization and interaction does not end with the bell, it keeps going. With Katherine’s social life being primarily online, there is no real “end” to any of her interactions, which ultimately results in her anxieties stemming from her interactivity of new digital media.
Katherine’s continuous interactions with her cellphone and resulting anxieties can be analyzed from the social construction of technology perspective, which “argues that people are the primary sources of change in both technology and society” (Baym, 2015). Katherine is an ideal example of how people themselves appropriate and give meaning to technology in the context of their lives. For instance, it is absolutely imperative for Katherine to achieve at least 100 likes on an Instagram post; anything below would reflect poorly on her social presence. Essentially, Katherine validates herself and views her self-worth and social value as a function of her performance on social media platforms. In order for Katherine to maintain a certain status online, she needs to be very calculated and deliberate with her actions, which can quickly become a demanding process and a source of anxiety. From the age of 13, she must manage and conduct herself in a certain way because in a sense, she is surrounded by her so called “friends” every minute of every day. Therefore, when she says she “wants to get better at her phone. To be one of the girls who knows what to post, how to caption it, when to like, what to comment” (Contrera, 2016), I believe she is speaking from an underlying fear of becoming unpopular or being left behind in the race to stay relevant online. These fears evoke a sense of anxiety in that she could essentially lose her social value and reputation. I chose to discuss Katherine’s anxieties from the social construction of technology perspective because a significant portion of her anxiety stems from the value she and her friends assign to social media interactions. These platforms do not dictate norms or social cues for us, rather it is people who assign these values to platforms.
Baym, N. K. (2015). Personal Connections In The Digital Age, 2nd Edition. Malden, MA, United States of America: Polity Press.
Contrera, J. (2016, May 25). 13, right now. Retrieved from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2016/05/25/13-right-now-this-is-what-its-like-to-grow-up-in-the-age-of-likes-lols-and-longing/?utm_term=.db99e8aff5d9
“I don’t feel like a child anymore” she says. “I’m not doing anything childish. At the end of sixth grade” — when all her friends got phones and downloaded Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter — “I just stopped doing everything I normally did. Playing games at recess, playing with toys, all of it, done.” (Contrera, 2016)
When I think back to when I was thirteen, my life was vastly different from Katherine’s. A few students had cellphones at the time but it was primarily for parents to reach out to their children, especially if they participated in extracurricular activities. I remember being ecstatic for recess because that was my opportunity to socialize and catch up with my friends. We would play games and talk right up until the bell rang, which signified that our time to socialize was over and we would return to our classrooms to resume learning. However, for Katherine, the process of socialization and interaction does not end with the bell, it keeps going. With Katherine’s social life being primarily online, there is no real “end” to any of her interactions, which ultimately results in her anxieties stemming from her interactivity of new digital media.
Katherine’s continuous interactions with her cellphone and resulting anxieties can be analyzed from the social construction of technology perspective, which “argues that people are the primary sources of change in both technology and society” (Baym, 2015). Katherine is an ideal example of how people themselves appropriate and give meaning to technology in the context of their lives. For instance, it is absolutely imperative for Katherine to achieve at least 100 likes on an Instagram post; anything below would reflect poorly on her social presence. Essentially, Katherine validates herself and views her self-worth and social value as a function of her performance on social media platforms. In order for Katherine to maintain a certain status online, she needs to be very calculated and deliberate with her actions, which can quickly become a demanding process and a source of anxiety. From the age of 13, she must manage and conduct herself in a certain way because in a sense, she is surrounded by her so called “friends” every minute of every day. Therefore, when she says she “wants to get better at her phone. To be one of the girls who knows what to post, how to caption it, when to like, what to comment” (Contrera, 2016), I believe she is speaking from an underlying fear of becoming unpopular or being left behind in the race to stay relevant online. These fears evoke a sense of anxiety in that she could essentially lose her social value and reputation. I chose to discuss Katherine’s anxieties from the social construction of technology perspective because a significant portion of her anxiety stems from the value she and her friends assign to social media interactions. These platforms do not dictate norms or social cues for us, rather it is people who assign these values to platforms.
Baym, N. K. (2015). Personal Connections In The Digital Age, 2nd Edition. Malden, MA, United States of America: Polity Press.
Contrera, J. (2016, May 25). 13, right now. Retrieved from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2016/05/25/13-right-now-this-is-what-its-like-to-grow-up-in-the-age-of-likes-lols-and-longing/?utm_term=.db99e8aff5d9
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