Current Situation of Social Media Culture

Social media is like McDonalds, we know it’s unhealthy, yet we enjoy it every once in a while. I am not writing this to express my disaffection towards social media culture but instead, I take inspiration from someone I will talk about later in this essay and propose a new method of personal expression via the grossly huge part of our culture, social media.

One of the things about social media is its ability to influence and generate certain stereotypes, sub-cultures (read as: fan-clubs, closely knit communities).

Digital worlds already exist. All you need to do is visualize. Keyword: worlds.

People gravitate towards what they resonate with the most and fit into groups. Their groups eventually make them act a certain way. From the words they speak to the decisions they make no matter how big of an influence it would have on them in the long-term. It’s as if those digital worlds have their own books of laws. Those laws or principles dictate lives. That is to say, how social media is indeed ingrained into our culture.

What’s interesting is that not only it moulds our personalities, it also sets a framework for personal expression. In those small little worlds, the laws dictate what to talk about and how to talk about them.

Norms are convenient.

I wouldn’t say it’s a bad thing. If it’s left upon one’s creativity and true freedom is given, there wouldn’t be any “fitting in”. The little worlds would cease to exist and true freedom is, therefore, impractical.

However, I would like to criticize the current scheme of social media, strictly for individuals like you.

Understanding the structure of social media.

While the norms are much needed, they set an immutable path to follow. Let’s take a step back and understand what we are specifically dealing with.

Social media apps, in 2023, consist of details that are similar to one another so I believe it is okay to generalize upon a set structure of what we have on our platforms we engage with be it Instagram or Facebook or X (Twitter).

Let’s delve into the most important parts of social media to dig further:

Profile: A space that is meant to be “yours”. This could be the most important page for you on a platform, this is where you write and post and express yourself as an individual. It is a digital space that accepts for you to modify it as per your needs as long as it is within the boundaries of the content policy of a platform (e.g. no hate speech).

Home/Feed: A multimedia agglomerate that represents the digital sub-cultures you are a part of. This is where you see your mother post about her new recipe or your friend getting married. A cluster of information so huge that this is very much responsible for who you are today. Keep in mind, responsibility is a significant word.

Messages: A way to keep in touch. Letters have evolved into direct messages. There’s scope for personal touch and understanding individuals via this space on a platform.

Notifications: This is a record, an archive of activities that take place in the digital world that concerns you and your people. Imagine having a diary that keeps record of whatever happens to you in the real, physical world. This is that for the digital world.

The reason why I find it important to include the above list of definitions is so you don’t go with the definitions of these but understand the harmony between these digital spaces and our lives. These spaces represent parts of our lives and are as tangible as they can get, in our culture.

I need you to see the connections between these spaces and their remarkable impact they have on their lives. Each page from a platform has an intent that defines your intricacies.

Proposed method of expression

Before moving onto understanding the proposed method of using of these spaces, I would like to express my gratitude towards the inspiration for this essay. Jim Sarbh, an Indian actor.

For those who don’t know, Jim Sarbh (@jimsarbhforreal on Instagram), writes the name of a song with every picture that he posts. On a podcast interview, when asked why, he responded with…

“Laziness. Didn’t feel like writing captions. Found most captions silly”

His philosophy behind doing so promotes authenticity and personal expression, I love that. He is trying to break out of the norm of posting the same old captions that are part of an archetype.

I adore the idea of using online spaces in a personalised format by challenging the current norms. The way Jim does it is by adding the name of a song that resonates with the picture or his current preference, state of mind. It is much more deep and meaningful.

I propose that we re-think the way we use the spaces defined above and use them to express in a way that is meaningful to us. Only then could we really express our true selves rather than looking out for methods to do it from the supposed book of social media laws.

I could come up with 10 different things that could be done with, let’s say, profile page space that would be meaningful to me and expresses the ideas that I have in a unique manner.

Here’s an example of a few things that could be done:

• Posting art with words about what it made you feel.
• A dynamic bio section that changes based on the current ambitions, preferences, even if it means not everyone will understand without an explanation.
• Captions with free-flowing notes (something that I have tried).

At times, our perception of ourselves is tied to our work. That’s okay, you can use that to express yourself too.

Example:

• Profile picture with a signature mark (think of a bird in the background that’s hard to recognise, if you’re into ornithology)

You can also impose new constraints to re-define your social media experience.

Examples:

• Learn a new word every time you post something and use that in the caption.
• Not exceeding more than a sentence. If a lot needs to be said, try to maintain coherence within one sentence and express it all.
• Using a colored filter in the picture that describes your current state of mind.

Some of these ideas could be used if you resonate with them (let me know if you do) but I honestly believe that you should think of your own ways to express because that way, I would know it’s truly your space whenever I visit your profile. Be creative with your online presence.

Why is it important to re-think our usage of social media?

Digital culture is getting monotonous and rigid. Words and actions are predictable online. Think of social media as a dynamic instrument that plays a significant role in maintaining our cultural health. Just as a musical instrument needs variations in its notes to create beautiful music, the digital culture needs diversity and authenticity to flourish. Authenticity not only raises the bar for what is considered good but also sets admirable standards for us to live by.

This act of re-evaluation and re-imagination isn’t just for our benefit; it’s for the health of the culture we inhabit

The beauty of social media is in its ability to work as a canvas for personal expression so rather than conforming to templates, we could try creating our own unique spaces that matter to us.