How can social media cut us off from the real world? — Story telling 01/06/2018

We are in 2030, organizations and ways of working have evolved. The trend of converting himself into a self-employee has been developed thanks to people’s expectations of freedom and autonomy at work. There are more freelancers than before and, then, companies have less classical employees. This trend leads to less management within the companies and a need to adapt structures to more collaborative ways of working, in order to ensure good communication and combination of the activities. On another hand, freelancers benefit from more flexibility and autonomy, and are free to choose the companies to work for. They mainly have contracts with large companies but job stability is not ensured.

Kim has the chance to be really employed by a large company. She is a 25 years old fashionista. She is a self–educated and did not do any studies, but has a great popularity on social networks, with 13 million followers on her Instagram account where each photo benefits from 500,000 likes on average, and she has 10 million followers on Twitter. Kim also manages 2 blogs, one of beauty and a fashion one. She has been approached by a famous luxury brand and was recruited one month ago thanks to her popularity on social medias.

Paul is a 26 years old freelancer who has several jobs and occupations, each quite different and distinct from the other. He spends part of his time conducting scientific research, and dedicates the rest of his life to create and improve cosmetics for some of his clients. As his jobs are not really stable and depend a lot of the contracts he can sign with large brands, he sometimes needs to switch to another third job, caterer for events or companies specialized in delivering food at home. Although he spent 6 years studying science, he cannot access to a stable job in a famous company because, in the luxury and cosmetic industry, firms mainly hire people for their popularity and their rating on social medias.

These two persons seem to have opposed profiles with a different background.

One day, they meet each other at an event. This event is organized by Kim for the company she works for, and John is the caterer of the party. John feels disappointed when he recognizes Kim. He understands that she has been hired in this company thanks to her influence and popularity on social networks. He already knew that this is the way large companies recruit people, but he does not understand why a company gives more importance to these criteria rather than real qualifications and studies.

At the end of the event, Kim and John talk to each other and realize that they finally have something in common: both have not participated to an event with people for a long time.

Indeed, they are totally disconnected from the real life and real interaction with people, each one at his manner: Kim, because she is always on her phone and computer, publishing photos or trying to maintain and develop her network; John, because, as a freelancer, he is used to work at home and has no real interaction with any colleagues or people outside.

Finally, the way people value social networks importance in their life can totally disconnect the world from reality, not only in personal life, but also in the professional world.

Julie C. & Suzy S.