Erin Cannon's Thoughts on Kayla and the film Eighth Grade

 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 theoretical perspective of social construction of technology and social anxieties as Kayla is trying to expand herself on social media through technology yet it causes her to lack social skills as she becomes used to expressing herself through social media rather than physically.

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