Social media platforms like Facebook have brought us closer to our icons be they actor, politician or pornstar. But is this intimacy from our desk chairs really for the better?
Perhaps I cling to a bygone age, but when I use Facebook or Twitter a certain part of my brain lights up with questions about why I’m doing it and what ripples it’s causing in the grander scheme of things. Being able to instantly chat with a friend overseas, or make new ones without ever leaving the couch, may be gratifying… but what’s the catch?
If you look at people on the train or at the gym – headphones in and eyes on screens – it might seem that the social art of approaching fellows and conversing with them has disappeared. On the contrary, sociability has not diminished, it’s just gone online. For all our brainpower and evolutionary progress, humans are primitively pack animals and even the most solitary basement-dweller will surface for fresh air and a little intimacy occasionally. This primal need, blended with our desire to stay within the safety of our private sanctums, is what makes social media both a blessing and a curse.
More and more in the headlines and on the radio we hear tales of catfishing and scam artists feeding on these desires through social media. When once the con of luring people into online relationships with a false identity was restricted to chat forums and dating sites, now even Facebook is no longer safe. In 2016 the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) and the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network showed startling figures of 200,000 scam reports, with 30% being dating or romance scams totaling losses of $42 million to those affected. Shudder.
How did we come to this? It seems the advent of the social network has grown into a Faustian nightmare where parts of our soul are stripped away each time we log on. In exchange for the eradication of time and space boundaries, we run the risk of attracting sharks that proceed to chomp away until we have nothing left. As reports of scams, catfishing, and cyber bullying continue to skyrocket, the dark and dysfunctional side of our relationship with social media is starting to show.
And it’s not just individuals taking the beatings. With the advent of the ‘fake news’ label, entire publications have come under fire, taking down teams of people with them. Now more than ever there is a clamour for online content that is real and words like ‘authenticity’ have transcended the realms of concept to become a criteria for whether an article or video is worth your time.
It seems that we’re living in a postmodern society; having replaced reality with a virtual world of mass-produced images. The online structures of articles and videos can numb our abilities to separate the real from the fake.
Obviously are brains are screaming at us to rebel against this and find something ‘real’ that we can relate to and draw satisfaction from. One industry where this trend is becoming surprisingly evident is the porn industry. Amateur videos are fast becoming the most popular type of film featured on porn sites, with more and more DIY movies stealing the thunder from the orchestrated orgies set against ‘bow-chica-wow-wow’ soundtracks.
Of course it makes sense that such a shift in internet trends and social attitudes should be reflected in porn, after all what is more natural than sex? But even here social media is wearing the pants. While amateur porn videos are often a labour of love for those who make them, their projection onto social media and sites such as Pornhub give their performers instant status as a social media presence that followers can instantly get in touch with. Following on from the trend of watching real and intimate videos, webcam performers shooting from the privacy of their own bedrooms offer viewers further intimacy with a webchat or messenger button opening the window for a private strip tease or sex show.
The downside is that, armed with the freedom of social media, the quest to find authentic content can change into a quest to develop a genuine connection with the star of said content, and with many porn stars maintaining their own profiles in Facebook or Instagram, the door is open for bullying, abuse, and even threats.
It almost seems like there’s no way to win. Social media’s ‘sharing’ abilities are continually flooding us with images, videos, and articles -turning us into a society of pixels rather than people- and though we love that freedom, it turns into a noose when people start harassing us about comments or pretending to make love to us while they empty our bank accounts. How can we enjoy the fruits of a relationship with social media and avoid the bitter aftertaste? Well thankfully, all hope is not lost. Dr. Jekyll may not have been able to banish Mr. Hyde, but there are ways in which we can keep the social media monster on a leash. Don’t forget that your privacy settings are your best friends -so make sure that everything is set to the way you want it! You can choose who sees your posts and who can’t, so take advantage of that. Remember that you can notify Facebook of content that you don’t want to see: don’t just scroll past something offensive, give the ‘block’ button and hard push and report it. The same goes for people you want to see less of. It might look good to have over 500 friends, but maybe don’t accept every friend request you get – personally, I never add a friend on Facebook unless I’ve met them face-to-face. It’s cautionary steps like these that will keep your relationship with social media in the days of wine and roses.
How do you feel about the increasingly worn barriers between the personal and the public? Comment below!
