Beyond The Platform

I often think about the role that social media plays in the self esteem of young girls and celebrities. Obviously, girls have always struggled with issues that lead them to compare themselves to others, but I feel as if social media has made this issue much more significant. A great example that illustrates this is a Ted Talk by Leslie Coutterand. She touches on her experience with social media and how she came to the conclusion that she was leading a double life. She was an actress and instagram model and had extensive exposure and following on social media. The Ted Talk really shared her personal story and how she came to conclusions regarding social media. She includes a source from Common Sense Media showing the extent that teens spend online. This study showed teens spend up to 9 hours a day online consuming media, with 24% online and 34% wanting to be youtubers. One life made her genuinely happy and the other gave the illusion that she was living a glamorous and unattainable life which was, in reality, a fake version of her life. I want to explore this topic, specifically focusing on Leslie’s story because I feel it is similar to many other figures in the media today.

First, I will elaborate more on Leslie’s story and how these issues arise in her personal experience. She was an actress who had a following on her medias. After describing her social media usage as a bit more than average, she realized that she was posting for the wrong reasons. She described her posts as something that would give her “constant, instant, free gratification.” This line really hit close to home because I also care way too much about my social media posts. I always make sure I feel confident in the way I look.

The issue with this is that most girls posts are the one out of one-hundred photos taken with the best angle and filter which creates completely unrealistic expectations for followers. Obviously, this is less of an issue for me because my following is on a smaller scale than instagram models and celebrities. But when viewing these famous models, I constantly compare myself to others all day long just by scrolling through my instagram feed. Leslie went on to tell a personal story about how she went through a bad breakup. She would post amazing selfies on her instagram feed to fake a perfect life, when in reality she was in her bed crying herself to sleep.

Another story Leslie told took place at a photoshoot where she was in a swimming pool, being splashed, while looking seductively into the camera. While she looked like she was having an amazing time, in reality she was freezing, got water in her eyes, and was completely self conscience. She said the worst part about this shoot was that she wasn’t even getting paid, but she took part in it in order to get pictures for instagram. During this shoot, she realized that none of this made any sense at all. She realized she agreed to this shoot for a post which would lead to her daily dose of dopamine, which led her to question her identity. This is a cycle that celebrities and normal people go through all of the time. I can personally say that I am victim to this but on a much smaller scale.

I have purchased outfits for special events in which I tried extra hard with my makeup and hair just to get an instagram post. Oftentimes when I do this I am not even happy with the way I look in the majority of the pictures which is really devastating to think about, but I know this is the case for so many other girls.

To elaborate on Leslie’s realization during her pool photoshoot, she realized she created an avatar life of herself to portray her life as beautiful and perfect to the outside world. In reality, she knew her passions involved social activism and human progress. In discovering her passion, she began to focus on self reflection and what truly made her happy.

Overall, this source has given me a good insight as to how social media influencers struggle with their real lives being portrayed as something completely separate and artificial. Key thoughts that Leslie described included her above average usage of social media, how she lead two different lives through social media, and how she came to realizations of what truly made her happy in her real and unfiltered life. It seems her overall argument is that social media creates self-esteem issues, self doubt, and has long term impacts with people unable to develop new ideas because they are embracing the ideas that they see online. Leslie’s main takeaway wasn’t to fully get rid of social media, but to rethink it to send positive messages, to reach out to friends and family beyond the screen, and to use the platform to raise consciousness.

This source fits into my previous research as it ties into self image issues and the later effects that come from this continuous cycle. This source confirmed the toxicity found in social media. This was a true story about a real life actress and model who came to conclusions about her life portrayed online and contrasted to her real life, faults and all. I think that anyone who has some form of social media would be intrigued by the Ted Talk of Leslie Coutterand. It is a story that would hit close to home with many, and show young girls that they don’t need to live up to what social media falsely leads us to believe.

Talks, T. (2018, November 08). SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION | Leslie Coutterand | TEDxMarin. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH5bC-SLvb4&t=489s