A Facade

Made by a paranoid schizophrenic patient. Cuenca, Spain, 1961

We as humans need social interactions, it is part of the reason why we still exist today. Society now is faced with the problem of social media, a platform that blurs social interactions with a facade of our true selves. Many have praised social media for bringing people of all corners of the world together, spreading information quickly, and bringing attention to things that were once neglected. However, there is also the ongoing problem of a false perception of perfection, and an ongoing disbelief of the truth.

The false perception of perfection stems from what we are exposed to while using social media. There is this need to solely post the positive things in life, and this is what others are seeing "[and] we find ourselves comparing the best of our friend’s lives to the worst of our own." Since we are only exposing ourselves to the best of other people's lives, neglecting the negative of real-life problems "we can easily become depressed when we see others accomplishing more than us." So, while others are out posting the best of their lives, the pressure to only post the positives of our lives is present, and we therefore create an online persona that can be far from our true selves. This behavior is then reinforced by the use of "likes" which acts as a rewards system and pushes people to continue this spiral of one-upping their followers. "The number of likes our posts receive serve to define our self-worth. We realize we can’t be other people, but we agonize over not being a better version of ourselves." Currently, we see social media companies testing the removal of "likes" to remove this reward system, as it is increasingly obvious that it is detrimental to the well-being of society.

Speaking on the well-being of society, the use of social media has "unleash[ed] a myriad of complex psychological issues that have altered our collective sense of reality." Because we are slowly indoctrinating ourselves with a false reality, the truth of the world is no longer clear. Since information is now at our fingertips, there is an increasing decline in fact-checking the information we receive. This, coupled with the tendency to seek information that confirms our opinions, we are plagued with the so called "fake news". In reality, "fake news" is just the propagation of opinions without sufficient evidence to back it up, or a questionable source of information.

So, while social media may be a way to connect with people from all over the world, we must take into account the social and psychological problems that accompany it. "Whether your inner nature tends toward paranoia, narcissism, manic, depressive, or even melodramatic behaviors...these things unconsciously manifest themselves, rather publicly, in an online setting." We are no longer displaying our true selves and are instead projecting the person we want others to see. And while this may be a good ego-boost, in the long run, it is an unhealthy way to take on the reality of life.