Technological Determinism & The Guardian - Dylan Gowanlock

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 well as people of all ages in general, gain some sense of worth, or lack thereof, from social media platforms. These feelings of inadequacy might have been stifled or possibly lessened had technology not have innovated the way it has, allowing instantaneous, algorithmic communication through a variety of social media apps that seem to be doing a sizeable amount of harm to society at large. If anything, these platforms and technological innovation provide yet another avenue for humans to negatively compare themselves to others, an activity that is known to cause anxiety.

A question I have for the class is as follows. While I am sure most of us can relate to Kayla's experience to some extent, do you think there will eventually be a generation of youth growing up with technology that will not? Will the expansion of technology and social media always be intertwined with the attitudes and self-worth of the youth while growing up?

Comments

  1. Kat StaplesOctober 16, 2021 at 9:31 AM

    Hi Dylan,
    I really enjoyed reading your post! You brought up very important issues with Instagram and how it is affecting today’s youth and even society as a whole. While social media can have positives like being able to talk to people that you can’t see face to face it also has a fair amount of problems that arise as well.
    In response to the questions you have asked us, I think that social media will always be a big part of our lives. For years to come, we will look to social media to tell us who we are or who we should become to fit into society and even become popular. I think social media will just keep evolving. The existing apps will continue to update and there will be an introduction of new apps that may have positive effects on us but will have their fair amount of problems that arise as well. I also believe that social media doesn’t just affect youth; it has an effect on everyone. Our society is based on money. Making women feel bad about their appearance sells everything from beauty products to dieting to exercise programs. It’s billions of dollars of business. In order for real change to occur, I think our society would have to move away from capitalism. There may be some desire for this after the pandemic, as it really showed the difference between the haves and have nots. But I’m not optimistic.

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  2. Anahita KOctober 19, 2021 at 5:42 PM

    Hey!
    I enjoyed reading your post this week! I like the way you connected technological determism to the Guardian article. To answer your question, I can relate to Kayla's experiences. I was around her age when social media really began to take off with the general public. Technology especially communication technology continues to adapt and change at a very rapid rate. I do think that social media will always be intertwined with the attitude and self worth of the youth as they continue to use these social technologies. However, I believe that the attitudes that are being projected to viewers will change as society continues to apply pressure for companies to push body positivity and inclusivity within the media which will help the next generation when it comes to body anxieties

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