Blog post #2
Hello again, Bloggers and blogger enthusiasts!
Thank you for checking out my
first blog post. My last blog post was an introduction to my blog and what it
will involve over the next couple of months. This one will talk about the first
aspect of social media that has an impact on young people’s lives, and that is
how social media has an impact on what young people spend their money on. 
One of the big problems of social media is that because a
lot of people post pictures and videos of their flashy lifestyles, it can lead
to young people sometimes putting themselves in debt to live the same lives of
the people they see on Instagram, and have all the flashy items they own as
well. Examples of this are people on Instagram who have a very large amount of
followers, whether they’re reality stars or social media famous, they post
pictures of their luxurious lives which makes normal, average working people
feel less adequate to them and therefore try and do everything they can to make
their lives the same.
Unfortunately this can, like I said previously, lead to a
lot of debt and trouble because they realistically can’t afford the flashy cars
and watches and stay in expensive, luxury hotels like the people they see on social
media. This sort of desire to be rich and famous can lead to serious mental health problems like depression and stress. (These topics will be covered in the
further detail in a future blog post).
Although normal, average working people may get down
about not owning these materialistic things and living these luxurious lives,
things may not be what they seem as they are through a phone or computer
screen. The reality of some cases of the people who post pictures and videos of
their luxurious items is that they may be portraying a rich lifestyle to gain
followers and popularity, whereas in real life they are just the same as many
other people in the world - a normal, average-working Joe.
These people want to make others think that they are rich,
famous and happier than ever, happier than them even, because they have expensive
things and live expensive lifestyles just to gain popularity from something
that isn’t real in the first place. They think by doing this, they will gain some
sort of happiness out of their lives, but the fact of the matter is that being,
pretending or wanting to be a materialistic person doesn’t make you a happier
or better person. The term “money can’t buy you happiness” couldn’t be more
accurate. There are many things in this world that money simply cannot buy,
like manners, love and trust. These are just a small amount of many reasons why
money can’t buy you happiness, and which are what people who want to be the
same as the people they see on social media should come to realise.
To conclude, I will leave
you with this to think about.
Do you think money can buy someone
happiness? Or do you agree with my opinion? Let me know what you think in the
comment section.
As always, stay tuned for my
next blog post.
Until next time...
Surely young people have always been exposed to "aspirational lifestyles" through conventional media types and adverts - what do you think it is about social media in particular that can be damaging? Is it the idea that they're seeing "real people" instead of models, actors etc?
ReplyDeleteSocial media as a whole is damaging, especially for young people because it leads to lack of sleep, depression and anxiety - according to some studies I have found online that is. Depression is down to exactly that, seeing real people online showing off their flashy lifestyles and flashy accessories when they aren't famous in the real world. This leads to young people thinking they can do the same but when they realise they can't, it makes them feel worthless.
ReplyDeletePersonally, when I see people online going on private jets and driving flashy, expensive cars I get very jealous and wish to live like them. However I come to realise that their lives may not be all that fantastic as it seems they are on Instagram, for example.
Money does not always buy happiness especially when the persons who are displaying their apparent wealth, can ill afford to put the next meal on the table, let alone have the latest flashy car or lavish trip abroad which they put out there on the social media. In many cases in my opinion the spending is on a credit card..........Nothing wrong with that if you can, in Martin Lewis's words " pay it back in full"
ReplyDeleteSocial media without doubt has some effect. People look enviously on at another appearing to have the perfect lifestyle, when actually it's untrue. I call it Cyber Life. What one sees on FB or Twitter glosses over the real life in many cases.
Of course, money can help to live a realistic comfortable life style, but it's not going to buy health and all the other things you mentioned.
I consider myself as not being materialistic and never have been. We have worked hard for what we have got. For now, and I am an older person, I'm happy to be healthy and live comfortably within our means.
Social Media doesn't influence me, but I can see how it could
Thank you for your insight on the matter.
DeleteI totally agree, but that is exactly the point. Some people who buy the things they see other people on social media have aren't able to "pay it back in full" and therefore end up putting themselves in some serious debt.
Precisely.
I completely agree, however there are unfortunately some people in this world (particularly young people) who aren't content with what they have compared to those they see online, therefore buy extravagant items which leads to what I said previously.
Thank you again for your interesting perspective of this topic. It will be very useful for my research.