Thoughts: YouTube Video How Social Media Shapes Identity

Social media has influenced us in many ways that we might not realize right away. The different ways are through market, play, and sociality. With market, we eventually start caring about how we dress and what types of clothing is popular, instead of what we truly want to wear. With play, we want to use social media as an escape and some people can start to believe that what they are playing can be somewhat a reality. With sociality, we can be influenced into thinking that we play a certain role in an environment or group. These ways can eventually influence into making certain decisions that can affect our future.

I believe social media has influenced me in the way I perceive what is popular, how people truly react, and what is acceptable with body standards. Many people that get a lot of recognition on social media have done something, wore something, or even say some things. This makes me believe that if I were to do this same stuff that I would end up being more popular or liked by other people. How people act on social media is also different from how people act in real life. Many things that are shown on social media are very fake and just made up for the views. Also, a big topic with social media would be the body standard. I have seen for a long time now that many people that are idolized have a perfect body shape. This makes me want to believe that people are looking for this in real life too.

I agree wholeheartedly. I believe that social media has definitely influenced us in more ways than we would like to believe. It does not take us long for us to start caring about certain trends online or how we are acting compared to how certain influencers are acting online then. I feel that it has influenced us so deep that at times it starts to take a toll on our mental, emotional, and eventually physical health as well.