Through research, I have learnt that the rise of social media dependency has accelerated within recent years and it is now deemed a real mental health issue. While creating my FMP proposal I visited the Big Bang Data Exhibition to attain knowledge on the rate and speed information and data is being accumulated. I have revisited my notes and review to refresh the exhibition in my mind and to help me refocus my project in the way I think best to tackle the issues at hand.
Extract from proposal:
"To help understand data usage and its importance and influence, I attended Somerset House to view their ‘Big Bang Data’ Exhibition. It is the first major exhibition to look into the big data explosion which is transforming society, culture and politics. Through dynamic and engaging art and design projects from a range of international artists, Big Bang Data demystifies data by inviting visitors to look at the ways digital information is produced, organised, used and interpreted, and how it is changing the way we live.
From the exhibition I learnt that in 2009 alone, the same quantity of data was produced as the entire history of humanity up until that point in time and by 2012 it was estimated that 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every single day. Until recent years, the majority of data being produced was for scientific, industrial and administrative purposes, but since the growth of mobile technologies, you can now take photos, update profiles and write emails at any given time. There is now a growing obsession with recording every single movement we make and do and then analysing our quantified selves.
Society has become engulfed in this craze where we want to share every little detail about ourselves and our daily routines. We are constantly sharing this data with the rest of the world, so people can find out where we went for dinner last Saturday, who we spent our New Years Eve with and what we were wearing yesterday just by clicking on our social media pages/links and were forgetting to save some things for reality. Will there come a time where we wont be able to converse in person, because we already know everything about each others lives through the data we are sharing on the internet?"
Social Media surrounds us at all times within the hypermodern society we are living within. Majority of society owns at least one social media account as it has become an easy way to socialise and connect with friends, family, etc. According to TalkSpace, data suggests that we check our phones on average 150 times everyday and 30% of our online time is dedicated to social media. Excessive use of social media is known as having a social media dependency, which is now seen as a mental health issue as it distorts our self-image and perceptions of reality. A few examples of how the dependency can affect an individuals mental health are:
Negative body image and eating disorders
- Social media use is linked with high rates of eating disorders
- Associated with body image distortion
Social Media is linked with symptoms of depression
- Negative social media use in social media increases depression
Social Media can impact anxiety levels, relationships and even sleep
- Social Media can cause anxiety, and negatively impact personal relationships
- Difficulty sleeping after using Social Media
- Relationship and workplace difficulties because of online confrontations
REFLECTIONS
- Researching further into social media dependency has helped me understand the threats of spending too much time online and what could be the consequence of abusing the use of online worlds allowing it to interfere with daily life and slowly take over your reality. From this, I'm beginning to think of many abstract ideas and concepts that can be visually explained over the next few weeks through photoshoots, graphic design, illustration, etc. Below are the rough idea notes that I have been jotting down as I have been thinking of them
No comments:
Post a Comment