In the 2012 The Atlantic article, Nathan Jurgenson argued that we had developed what he called a Facebook Eye, an eye with which we started seeing the world based on what we can post and what we cannot.
Have you ever felt angry at those people filming an entire concert on their phones and blocking your view? Because I certainly have – that is until I became the person who wanted to post a video of a concert I attended on my Instagram account.
Of course, there’s a limit of common sense. You don’t need to have two-plus hours of concert footage on your phone that you’re never going to post anywhere, nevertheless watch. You also don’t need to bring out your Ipad Pro which is going to block the person behind you’s entire view. But what’s the harm in registering a moment of happiness and sharing it?
I believe the harm lies in whether we are registering a moment of our lives, or living our lives to register it.
The early days
Back in the early 2000s, with the expansion of the internet that had become more accessible to the general population, the first excerpts of what would become our prized social media platforms were coming to life. Orkut, MSN and MySpace were gaining more and more users, thus the way we shaped our social relationships was changing.
It was later, with the explosion of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (now X), that these big changes became more visible. If previously we used these platforms as a way to keep up with long-distance friends, occasionally post a photo, and share a certain event in our lives, now our online personas speak for themselves alone.
When setting up a profile, we choose what side of ourselves we want to present to the world. From the avatar picture to the information we put on our bios, to what sequence of characters we pick for our usernames, all these little pieces of information makes up for our online image.
Today, this online version is the first impression we have of people. For example, when your friend wants to introduce you to someone, they will probably send a username for you to check an online profile or page.
When meeting new people, one of the first things I notice people do, and that I do myself, is ask for their Instagram user so we can follow each other. This happens because in our modern busy world that’s usually the easiest way to “connect”. Like that, we became more accessible online than offline.
Online you vs. offline you
Is there really any difference? Because if we are so connected to the point where it’s easier to find someone on the internet than in real life, wouldn’t we choose to post on the online world to become what we end up sharing with the real world?
Do you ever find yourself looking someone up on the internet and, based on their posts, drawing up a conclusion about them? Through a social media page, it’s often that we can tell what someone’s main interests are, what type of clothes they like to wear, what books they like to read, who they hang out with, and even if they are single or not. And all of the above, just like in real life, become indicators of status.
Then, we find ourselves wanting to share everything – and only if – we think it looks good online. The nice restaurant we went to on the weekend, a good movie we watched with friends, the cool parties we attended… And if we aren’t able to share those, and our online communities do not see it and react to it, many of us think it’s not even worth it.
Why do we share what we share
It’s not like humans started doing things for attention with the invention of social media. In fact, many argue that’s what the human condition is about, seeing and being seen.
The impression management theory argues that humans control information in social interaction to influence the perceptions of other people about them. Social media is so popular, amongst other reasons, because it allows people to have an amount of control over their image that real life doesn’t.
This results in a need to share everything that can possibly increase other people’s perceptions of us. In human relations, that was always an exchange currency used to climb the social hierarchy ladder that shapes our society, but social media takes that to a whole other level.
Before Facebook and Instagram took over our lives completely, we still did things to be seen and perceived. But we didn’t have the possibility of sharing every little thing at any given time the way we have now.
And while the instant connection that the internet provides is beneficial in many contexts, it is also leading us to live our lives based on what’s postable and what isn’t, and that’s what’s problematic.
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The article above was edited by Clara Rocha.
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