Blog Post #3 - Are Our Primeval Instincts to Blame for Our Instagram Addictions?


A topic that I have had a grand sense of interest towards had been the emergence of users’ interest in social media – in particular, sharing – and its applicability towards the relationships that we have thrived on due to our primeval instincts. In one of our readings, titled The Ancient Foundations of Social Media: Why Humans are Wired for Sharing, we had focused on this aspect of sharing and communal relations through an evolutionary lens. Within this reading, as well as within our class, we looked at primate interactions to begin our analyzation of social networks; not only social networks within humans, but other primates such as apes and chimpanzees. This primeval understanding of interaction is an important aspect to evaluate for this class because I believe that our association with social media, as well as group interactions, plays a substantial role in why we desire our relationships; online and face-to-face. Through a primeval lens, it is important to acknowledge that many of our desires for social cohesiveness stems from just that: our primate instincts. Our desire to share, communicate, and create bonds is an aspect of primates that we cannot run away from. Especially with the 'help' (depending on how you interpret it) of social networking, we have been able to capitalize these desires to increase our social cohesiveness more than ever before.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Social Media Anxiety

I came across this article that unfortunately has started to seem a little too relatable for many. It talks about social media anxiety and the obsession over likes, follows, what other people are doing, and all other feelings that are a result of us being over connected with the rest of the world. The article showcases examples of people who even become physically sick when logging on to social media sites. While that may seem as an extreme example, the scary truth is that more and more people are reporting social media anxiety everyday because of pressure, fear of missing out (FOMO), and ‘Compare and Despair’. I found this to be very relatable to the article we previously read about Katherine and her obsession with her phone and social media. Katherine was constantly worried about getting online approval from her friends, how many likes she got on her photos, how many comments and so on. While the article never directly claimed she had social media anxiety, many of her a...
Read more

Blog Post #3

Due to the freedom we have for the post this week, I took the time to really think about what I wanted to write in my post. My first thought was to discuss sports but I wanted to try and discuss a topic that could create more discussion. As most social media users have learned over the last few days, former SNL actor Pete Davidson, and pop star Ariana Grande have called off their engagement. While the speed at which their relationship seemed intense, at the end of the day, shouldn't we be more focused on the wellbeing of each of these individuals who very well may be walking away from the loves of their life? I would think it is safe to say that those of us in this class won't garner as much as attention on social media if and when we find a life partner. These individuals are only a handful of years older than ourselves and are under the microscope of the media every day of their lives. We may never know exactly this relationship didn't work out, and honestly, we as comple...
Read more

Just a social human-being

I want to draw on ideas from this week’s reading to share upon how this perspective has provided me some insights into why social media practices vary from person to person.  In society where there is a strong reliance on social media for interaction, connectivity and information, it is uncommon to encounter someone that does not use any form of social media whatsoever. The social practice of meeting a neighbour or starting a conversation with someone you see on a public bus has decreased because of the overlap of our public and private lives. Therefore, because there is less sharing exchanged exclusively with people solely immersed as beings in a public space, I believe that even those that attempt to resist the use of social media feel the need to be connected. I argue this because Dunbar suggests that it is the animal genetic make-up to innately want to share to build connections and respect.  I chose to address the idea of people resisting social media because I ...
Read more