CS 371A Social Media and Social Life

 Technological determinism is one of Nancy Baym’s four perspectives on the causal relationship between technology society. From the perspective of technological determinism, technology is seen as a causal agent that changes society - in other words, technology is seen as something that happens to people. Using this perspective, we can see the anxiety about the interactivity of new digital media in the film Eight Grade through the way that social media affects Kayla. In this film, social media has a huge impact on the way Kayla interacts with others, her relationships with people, and the way she presents herself. For example, Kayla regularly uploads YouTube videos discussing confidence and putting yourself out there but she is the exact opposite in real life. She presents herself as an extroverted and confident person in these videos while in reality she is very shy and introverted. Another way that social media impacts Kayla can be seen in her relationship with her father. Althoug...

 The film Eighth Grade watched in class clearly demonstrates what Baym identifies as anxieties produced by the digital age. Technological determinism and its effects can be seen to influence Kayla's life as she struggles to navigate both her social relationships as well as her online persona. According to Baym, she states that technologies have an "imprinting" effect that transfers essential qualities onto their users and their individual psyches (Baym 29). An example of this effect is the way in which Kayla was imprinted by her social media profiles as she became adamant and eager to practice her virtual confidence in real life. Furthermore, throughout the film, it is evident that keeping up social media profiles is a norm being practiced by Kayla as well as her classmates. It is important to these kids that they are posting regularly and interacting with each other online. The effects of digital technology can be argued to be imprinted on these characters as their virtu...

       It is no secret that technology is ever-changing and advancing everyday. Technological Determinism is generally the idea that technology will never stand still- it is always progressing no matter what society has to say, leaving long term effects.      It is extremely obvious that the theoretical idea of Technological Determinism is at the forefront of  Eighth Grade.   Nancy Baym notes that these particular stressors that surround digital media are prompted and spawned by its interactivity. I agree with these words because additionally, without social media and digital content existing within a social sense, it has little to no meaning. Kayla's relationships and her sense of self are compromised by her adhesion to social media and technology in general. Social media creates a set of standards that demand to be followed by those apart of a social group. In Kayla's case, her entire life's purpose as a middle schooler is founded...

       Technological determisnim as described in class, is that technological advancements and innovations, social media specifically in this case are able to influence the world we live in, in obvious ways such as politically, socially and/or economically but also in many ways that are not so obvious ways as well. In the film, "Eighth Grade" it is evident that Kayla has some anxiety about the degree of technological determinism around her. Simply, Kayla experiences anxiety around the fact that technology (in this case social media as well) are changing society.      The Guardian article express the concern that Instagram can cause insecurities about body image and their overall appearance among young women. Baym mentions that a social media platform such as Instagram is capable of effecting social lives and the dynamic of the app itself can be linked to causing self esteem issues due to the lack of authenti...

    The anxiety about the interactivity of new digital media alongside the perspective of technological determinism is shown by Kayla’s use of social media in the film Eighth Grade . In her book Personal Connections in the Digital Age, Nancy Baym very briefly describes the term technological determinism as, “machines change us” (27). She draws upon Nick Carr’s essay on Google, which attributes a decreased attention span and focus to increased time spent online.  This is portrayed in the scene when Kayla spends a large portion of the evening on her laptop. She watches various pop culture videos, takes a Buzzfeed quiz, scrolls on Tumblr, watches Jimmy Fallon, and more. The internet provides access to such a vast amount of content in an instant, which provides her with endless hours of entertainment. Compared to reading a book, one is not bombarded with information in the same way. Although it is not shown how this impacts Kayla’s attention span specifically, it still demons...

This post will discuss one of Baym's four theoretical perspectives on the causal relationship between technology and human interaction within society. More Specifically, technological determinism. With the seemingly unrelenting expansion of social media and new digital technologies, a technological determinist view would hold that society's norms, values and social structure itself will be ever-changing in correlation to the expansion of new tech and social media. While reading the quote from the Guardian article that read "Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression" it is evident that societal values, certainly among youth hold social media and online discourse to be very important. Another quote from the same article reads that "40% of Instagram users who reported feeling “unattractive” said the feeling began on the app". This is, unfortunately, displaying the saddening and harmful reality that many of today's youth, as w...

     I decided the perspective of technological determinism in the movie eighth grade watched in class. During the movie Kayla was almost living two lives, one through social media, and one in real life, one can make the argument that Kayla is this shy, quiet, awkward teenager   because   of her phone, because of the technology. Similarly, to Carr’s article mentioned in Baym’s chapter, he argued that society is stupid   because   of Google. However, Baym opposes this argument, she explains that this is an old way of thinking, and one should look at determinism in a critical manner to better understand a society, and I agree. I do not think the answer is as simple as Kayla is who she is because of her phone, as Baym explains, technology have certain characteristics that end up being transferred to its users. For example, the phone’s mobility characteristic is transferred onto Kayla, making her believe that she doesn’t need to physically connect to Aiden...

  In the film Eighth Grade, it is evident that technology heavily impacts our society, influencing our societal norms and values. This relationship between technology and the social is known as technological determinism. Technological determinism is the belief that the internet and technology are transforming the way society functions. In the movie, Kayla is an impressionable young girl who is a bit of an outsider. From the film’s start, you can see that she is an introvert and does not have many friends. Social media and the internet are places where Kayla can view her peer’s profile, influencer’s posts, and gain knowledge about any questions or uncertainties she may have. It is clear that Kayla is very addicted to her technology; one scene displayed her at the dinner table with her headphones in, ignoring her father as he tried to make conversation with her. Without the internet, I believe that Kayla would be more present and in the moment, making her more outgoing at school and ...

This post will discuss the reductionist theory that assumes that a society's technology determines the development of its social structure and cultural values – technological determinism – and its relationship to the Guardian article. The presence of social media in our society, and the role that it plays, is extremely significant in addition to the impact it has on mental health of the users. The Guardian article states that Instagram makes body image issues worse for one in three girls and “thirty-two per cent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.” These stats are quite disturbing knowing that these girls are so young and so vulnerable. Instagram is aware of how addictive the app is, the effect it has on young girls, as well as how they can somewhat control and determine a large portion of society’s direction in relation to social media. Many social media platforms and big tech companies know that they have you by the short...

The theoretical perspective of technological determinism explains the anxieties social media creates in teenage girls as explained in the discussion reported in The Guardian . Technological determinism explains technology as changing society. A variant of technological determinism is McLuhan’s phrase, “the medium is the message”, Baym explains that “technologies have characteristics that are transferred to those who use them” (Baym, p.28).  Technological determinism in relation to The Guardian article explains the impact Instagram has on young females and their appearances. A technology, like Instagram, enters society and impacts their social life (Baym, p.29). Body image issues are largely linked to social media sites like Instagram because of the lack of authenticity present (Baym, p.34). People can easily edit their appearance and personality to something they think is ‘better'. This can boost their self-esteem in hopes people will find them more attractive. Baym explains with ...

For this week’s discussion, I wanted to focus on how a “social shaping of technology” perspective can help to understand why studies have found that social media users often experience anxieties regarding their self-image.  This perspective considers the consequences of technology as resulting from both the technology’s configurations and the way people use them. In Personal Connections in the Digital Age, Nancy Baym expresses this theoretical approach in terms of social media, “social media platforms engineer particular kinds of sociality even as their users develop norms around their use” (Baym, 2015, p. 51). I feel that this idea illustrates how it is both Instagram’s structure as well as its developed user norms that constitute the impacts of the platform's interactivity.  Specifically, Baym explains that anxieties regarding social media platforms commonly derive from their interactivity allowing users to manipulate a more favorable self-image. In the Guardian article Fac...

  As digital media tends to grow and develop, it creates a causal effect on our society. For example, social media platforms have changed the way in which we communicate with others. Instead of face-to-face conversations, we are able to hide behind the screen and type whatever we want without feeling as much pressure. This is an example of technological determinism and how it works. Essentially, the technology a society uses will affect and determine a society’s social structure and values. Although technology comes with a range of benefits, it still has its downsides. Baym talks about how digital media and its interactivity is often the cause of an individual’s anxiety.  In the film “Eighth Grade” we follow the life of Kayla and get a look at her world through social media. By taking a technological determinist perspective, we can see how social media and its interactive aspects can cause anxiety for Kayla. For example, Kayla makes self-help videos that she posts on YouTube...

Photograph by Josh Ethan Johnson / A24 / Everett   “Machines change us” (Baym, 2010, p. 27). This quote deriving from Nancy Bayms’s reading is the fundamental intention behind the theory of technological determinism. Technological determinism believes that technology is the causal agent of change in society; this change is often seen as something humans have little control over (Baym, 2010, p. 26).  But how can we see the process of technological determinism? Can we simply rely on this theory? Well, let’s analyze this proposition from the perspective of Kayla, the main character in the film Eight Grade. Kayla takes us viewers on a journey through her social media practices as Kayla goes through the transition of school and is faced with new challenges of introducing herself on social media in a manner that she feels would make her popular. As Dr. Herman stated in class, social reality is intersubjective (Herman, personal communication, September 16, 2021). The intersubjectivit...

 It isn't a secret that social media plays a major role in society especially for the younger generations. Many of the effects are negative and the article from the Guardian about Facebook's knowledge of the abuse is just one example of this coming into a better light for everyone to see. The domestication of technology is centered around the idea that even if we know a technology is harmful it's so engrained into society that we aren't going to take it out now. I think this is a reflection of the domestication of technology in everyday life because we already knew the effects and still didn't do anything to stop them. Even after this report came out, nothing has really changed in order to protect those who use these platforms. This is what the world is currently facing with social media, especially Instagram which Facebook owns. The best thing that Instagram has done to try and lessen the negative effects is them taking away the ability to see how many likes other ...

     Technological determinism is the key concept within both the film Eighth Grade, as well as in the Guardian Article. The use and overuse of social media in our new digital world has produced an entirely new set of challenges users must face. As the Guardian article discusses: anxiety, depression, and eating disorders are all examples of the mental health repercussions individuals- particularly teen girls- cope with as a result of Instagram use (Gayle, 2021). The article explains how the idea of constantly being surrounded by images depicting the perfect life can create harmful repercussions on one’s mental health. This notion is also depicted in the film Eighth Grade, where Kayla becomes consumed with how she feels she has to present her life on social media. As an avid social media user myself, I can attest to how these harmful side effects of social media exist, however, I also recognize it is important to not presume a technological determinist mindset.  ...

 As we learned in lecture, technological determinism can be explained as the belief that technological innovations have the power to shape our world, independent of any other factors, whether they be social, political, or economical. Technological determinism invites us to view technology as the single cause of big change in our world. As we saw in the film “Eighth Grade”, Kayla struggles with the weight of technological determinism which causes her to experience real-world social anxiety. Kayla is an eighth-grade student who utilizes social media for her everyday acceptance. It is obvious that Kayla needs social media and technology to stay alive as her head is constantly in her phone to the point that she can hardly speak to her father at the dinner table. Technology controls Kayla’s moods, it is at the forefront of her everyday life. We see her at her highest highs when creating her YouTube videos, and some of her lowest lows when put in real world social situations. There are t...

      The experience of Kayla in the movie Eighth Grade exhibits one of many different theoretical perspectives that connect Kayla to her use of social media and digital technologies. Technological determinism was one of the perspectives that were thoroughly shown throughout the movie with Kayla using a copious amount of social media sites like YouTube for uploading videos and Instagram for interacting with her fellow classmates. We slowly start to see how technology starts to affect her life in a way that she becomes entranced through the screen of her phone. The use of Instagram for example was used by Kayla to escape reality and pretend like she was with her school crush. This escape made her unaware of the fact that her dad was trying to speak to her by knocking on the door, making her become surprised to the point of throwing her own phone. The use of Instagram has provided Kayla with an escape from reality and helped her cope with the world around her. The mov...

Anahita Kavianpour Baym outlines four perspectives on the causal relationship between technology and society that enable us to further understand social anxieties that may arise due to the implementation of technologies. I will be focusing on Baym’s first perspective of technological determinism and its evidence in the StatsCan report. Through the data collected from the Statistics Canada report titled Canadians’ assessment of social media in their lives, the research concluded many ways that the use of these social technology changed society and has caused impacts on our lives. The research concluded with finding six major outcomes that are attributed to the use of social media. These are “lost sleep, trouble concentrating on tasks or activities, less physical activity, feeling anxious or depressed, feeling envious of the lives of others, and feeling frustrated or angry” (Fonberg et all, 2021, Pp.2). All six of these come from the use of social media and all have negative impacts on i...

  Post by: Josh DiBellonia      Nancy Baym argues that both technology and society shape the use of communication tools as they shift from being ‘fringe’ to ‘everyday objects (Baym, 2015). She identifies this concept as the ‘Domestication of Technology’. The smart is just one example of a new digital technology that has become so interlinked into the infrastructure of our everyday lives that its effect on its users is simply an afterthought, and the discussions of its positive or negative effects are often disregarded. When watching the film ‘Eighth Grade’ in class, it felt like a moment of self-reflection that allowed me to visualize how my relationship to my personal technologies has developed over the years. The film portrayed Kayla’s relationship and obsession with digital and social media as the source of her personal and social anxieties. In a broad sense, it demonstrated how the domestication of personal mobile smartphone can become the source of individual an...

It is evident that digital and social media have a number of negative effects on society, specifically on teenage girls. Research shows these negative effects are felt by many young girls and Facebook recognizes this, yet they do not do much, if anything, to change this. In 2012, Zukerberg discussed making changes to the platforms but said that these changes “may be good for the world but it’s not good for us unless people also share back to Facebook and that content increases the value of our network” (Bloomberg, 2019). Facebook has also actively suppressed this information regarding negative effects and its influence on the rise of anxiety in young girls.  As Baym discusses, interactive media causes anxieties and creates an inauthentic reality. Through Baym’s theoretical perspectives, the social shaping of technology helps explain the way in which technology is not neutral and is shaped by the dominant social, political, and economic values of society. This directly impacts the s...

      In the film, Eighth Grade, Kayla is a young girl who utilizes social media for her everyday stimulation and feelings of acceptance in society. Indeed, the film follows her experiences with technology and her uses of social media as she experiences the eighth grade. Throughout this narrative, Kayla begins by expressing her passion for giving others tips and tricks on how to be confident; however, as the narrative continues, she realizes all of the negative attention that can be brought through these social platforms, such as instagram.      It is vividly acknowledged within the film the many opportunities that social media provides their audience, with the clarity of how destructive it can be to one's identity and representation. Not to mention, one's perspective of representation. Thus, detailing the choices that Kayla is capable of making, due to this perceived representation that social media portrays.      In expansion...

Eighth Grade is an interesting film. When I think of technology during my stage of life, I support the social shaping of technology. With that being said, being 20 years old is very different from being 13 years old. When interacting with technology I feel as though it is possible to move between different theories. In the beginning, technology may seem to control us, but then as users start to understand what is happening they can take back control. In Kayla’s case technology is not invisible to her. It is at the forefront of her everyday life, but technological determinism seems too strict. At the beginning of the movie it appears as though technology controls her every move and no matter how much her father tries to influence her, he cannot. Near the end of the film, however, there is a major turning point. Kayla can set technology aside and have real conversations with her father which, in turn, influences her relationship with technology. Eighth Grade displays Kayla’s journey tran...

 In the portion of Eight Grade we watched in class, the theoretical perspective of social construction of technology evidently impacts her social life and social skills. Throughout the movie, Kayla struggles to fit in with the rest of the kids her age and seeks social acceptance and reassurance through the use of social media. Social construction of technology is simply defined as the power humans have in order to change and advance technology, and society being the primary influence of success of a new technology. Kayla aims to put herself out there by making YouTube videos about how to improve social skills and put yourself out there, but when it comes to real life, especially when talking to Aiden, her social anxiety is prevalent as she becomes awkward and shy. When it comes to her actions on social media she seems to interact with countless people however when it comes to physical interactions she seems to get socially anxious. This example drawn from the movie demonstrates the...

  As Dr. Herman mentioned in lecture, technological determinism is the idea that technology is "an external agent that acts upon and changes society" (Thursday October 7th, 2021). With this definition in mind, we can look at the ways in which technology determines our cultural values and social structures that we find ourselves in. The film Eighth Grade articulates a young girl named Kayla who struggles daily to fit in and find her sense of belonging. We can see two sides of Kayla throughout the film- her introverted and shy self while at school and her more lively and outgoing personality on her YouTube channel. For Kayla, social media apps likes Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat are tools that function as part of her escape and performance, as well as a way to connect with the bigger world. Her relationship with social media is both a coping mechanism for anxiety (figuring herself and others out by performing on social media) as well as an anxious medium in which Kayla feels...

As many of my peers have pointed out, technological determinism seems to be one of the most central concepts within the  Eighth Grade  film and the article from the Guardian on Facebook and its awareness of social media's negative impact on teens. In regards to anxiety, it is common for individuals to believe that these anxieties come from these technologies (or social media apps) themselves; this is technological determinism (Baym, 2015). That is, the belief or idea that these technologies change us in specific ways (Baym, 2015). As she discusses in the reading, these changes could make us more stupid as we become reliant on searching for answers or by creating more profound feelings of anxiety (Baym, 2015). The Guardian article on Facebook discusses some of these changes, specifically towards teenage girls. As discussed in the article, many teenage girls report having worsened body image issues, depression and anxiety due to Instagram (Gayle, 2021). Moreover, as the article ...

Baym’s theoretical perspective of technological determinism can be described as the effects that technology and social media have on society’s structure and values (Baym, 2015). A great example of this is the effects that the social media platform Instagram has on teenage girls. A Facebook study looking to see how Instagram affects its younger users concluded that as a result of using the platform 32% of teenage girls and 14% of teenage boys admitted that it made them feel worse about themselves and their bodies and even led to suicidal thoughts in 13% of British users and 6% of American ones (Bursztynsky and Feiner, 2021) . Instagram is known for its users to only post the best version of themselves and it is common for people to even edit and alter themselves to keep up this unrealistic persona. These activities are extremely harmful to others, especially younger, more impressionable youth to whom account for more than 40% of Instagram users (Bursztynsky and Feiner, 2021) . This tech...

Technological Determinism's Effect on Kayla's Experiences The theoretical perspective of technological determinism is useful in understanding the personal and social anxieties produced by digital media. Technological determinism focuses on the idea that technologies are active forces that change individuals and society, and people often have little power to resist them (Herman, 2021). It examines the authenticity of identity and the welfare of face-to-face relationships as a result of technology usage (Baym, 2015, p. 43). An effective example of technological determinism is present in the experiences of Kayla in the film Eighth Grade. The Internet in Kalya's experience, specifically Instagram and YouTube, allow her a sense of authentic self-representation. She is able to show her true identity and personality through the videos she posts, including ones on her videos: “putting yourself out there” and “how to be more confident.” This sense of authentic self-represent...

Anxiety about the interactivity of new digital media can be seen through technological determinism in Facebook's awareness of Instagram's harmful effects to teenage girls ( https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/14/facebook-aware-instagram-harmful-effect-teenage-girls-leak-reveals ). As we have read in Baym's work and then reaffirmed in last week's class, technological determinism is an external agent that acts upon and changes society (Baym, 2015). In Gayle's article, we are shown how Instagram is harmful, especially to the body image of teenage girls. Instagram is responsible for teenage girls feeling bad about their bodies; even those who didn’t feel good about their bodies to begin with are made to feel even worse with Instagram, “Thirty-two per cent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse” (Gayle, 2021). Mental health was also something that was declining in teenage girls, “Being surrounded by const...

 In the film we watched in class, Eighth Grade, we were spectators in the life of eighth grader Kayla, who is struggling with her confidence level. She uses social media platforms such as Instagram and her YouTube channel to show a side to her that she is unable to convey in real life. She has become very reliant on social media as a way for her to become more bold and confident and in many cases technology has become a determining factor in her life. At times, it seems like she has become so reliant on using technology and her social media pages on Instagram and YouTube to portray herself, that she has lost the ability to converse and make relationships with people IRL. By watching her videos, you would assume she is a talkative, outgoing person while in reality she is very quiet. This is similar to the way things are for us as social media allows for people to create an identity and personality online that is quite different from how they really are. It is much easier to be bold ...

     Technological determinism is obvious in the film shown in class titled, Eighth Grade .  This theoretical perspective can be described as the idea that technology has an important effect on our lives. It is evident in this film that the main character, Kayla, is glued to her technology and the social media that coincides with it. It is evident, however, that Kayla struggles with anxiety but aims to collect social acceptance and recognition from her peers. Kayla let technology get the best of her and sadly ruin great relationships and a great life.       It seems as though the film is promoting this technological determinism. Kayla would rather be staring at her phone than interact with her friends or classmates. It seems as though staring at her phone made her feel 'cool' and one of the popular kids for a while. Nancy Baym explains how social media forms these societal norms for its users. This is seen in the film because Kayla and her classma...

      In the film we watched in class, Eighth Grade, the theoretical perspective of technological determinism is highly noticeable throughout the movie. Simply put, technological determinism can be defined as the idea of how important technology is and its effect on our everyday lives. Kayla, who the film is primarily centred around, is an active user of many social media platforms such as Youtube and Instagram. In her online life, she is confident and outgoing. However, in her personal life it seems that Kyla does not posses the same conversational skills she portrays online and is more shy, awkward and less talkative.       Technological determinism actively represents what is going on in the film Eighth Grade  as it shows how today's youth may lack certain social skills. Throughout the film, we see how students are constantly on their phones, unengaged with the actual world and instead living through their screen. We see this in today's so...

 In the film Eighth Grade , main lead Kayla is seen interacting through screens and cameras more than with other human beings, even to the extent of ignoring her father. Scrolling and liking through posts gives validity of social interaction, at least through her own eyes. Without this technology, I believe Kayla would instead be more inclined to interact with people near her, or her shyness is not in fact determined by her technology and she would be reclusive in nature. Circling back to the point made of social interactivity, this agrees with Baym's original statement of media holding interacting elements within itself, and how with enough time, can replace in-person interactivity and possibly stunt and produce social cues. Kayla is seen as a stammering, timid girl who feels more comfortable expressing herself through comments and photos, thing she can edit and delete at any time, as opposed to verbal exchange where one has to know exactly what to express in the moment. This new ...

In the film that was viewed in class Eighth Grade Kayla has curated for herself, a persona on social media. One that does not coincide with who she is in the real world. This can be especially seen in the film’s scenes about Kayla’s YouTube channel. Where she pretends be someone who is confident, optimistic, and popular, which is far from reality. Hence, proving the anxieties that individuals feel in regards to new technologies, in this case, social media. In the text Personal Connections in the Digital Age , Baym (2015) defines the perspective of technological determinism as viewing “[new technologies] as causal agents, entering societies as active forces of change that humans have little power to resist” (p. 26). Further, in the text, Baym (2015) goes on to mention many of the anxieties individuals feel in regards to technological determinism. For instance, while people believe that new technologies can bring about better human connections, others are concerned that in mediated envi...