An Ordinary Age by Rainesford Stauffer

Author:Rainesford Stauffer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: 2021-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

“In the digital world, emerging adults communicate online with others and portray themselves in ways that can be temporary, facilitating moment-to-moment alterations in one’s persona or shared self,” Chris A. Bjornsen, author of the chapter “Social Media Use and Emerging Adulthood” in the book Emerging Adulthood: Current Trends and Research, wrote.1 There’s no denying that social comparison is built into social media, the research says, but it also notes that those “qualities are also inherent in real-life social relations.” On social media, it’s happening faster, and on a larger scale of audiences, but as the research states, social media during this age period “serves as an important socialization context in which emerging adults assert their developing autonomy, explore their identity, and initiate or maintain social relationships.” We can create selves and perform them; we can embrace who we are and amplify it. Social media, in those ways, gives young people a sense of agency. They are choosing to share a piece of themselves, their story—their life is no small deal.

Emerging adults today grew up with a unique consciousness that what we do on social media is absolutely connected to real life. Sometimes, your public persona reveals who you really are—resulting in lost jobs or college acceptances as a consequence of toxic attitudes or unacceptable behavior and abuse coming to light. Some of us have gotten job offers because of social media, or received help with medical bills, rent, or picking up the pieces following a tragedy. We’ve made and kept friends online, and, in some cases, found community in ways we didn’t in real life. Multiple people I spoke with talked about addressing a physical or mental health issue they were experiencing on social media, and said that the outpouring of solidarity boosted their self-confidence, while others mentioned feeling liberated by the ability to be honest about their body image or insecurities online, finding solace in networks they didn’t know to search for.

Nearly everyone I spoke to about social media expressed a desire to be “authentic” and “real,” which runs counter to the idea that young adults want their online selves and feeds to function like a highlight reel. Figuring out what that looks like in context is more challenging. “We can paint a very specific picture of our lives,” said Lexi, twenty-one, noting that not everybody can have the lifestyle projected on Instagram as the “only lifestyle worthy of having.” It’s gotten to the point, she said, where she’ll only post something that fits a specific, self-curated image. “I want to be perceived in a certain way,” she said, adding that apps like Instagram make you think you can control how people perceive you. “I think that a lot of what I struggle with is that a lot of it doesn’t feel very authentic. And I think that I’m really aware of that when I post.” Shortly after she had a tweet go viral, she hung out with a friend she hadn’t seen in a while, and when he mentioned the tweet in real life, she said it was a “jarring” feeling.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.