When we (the authors) were young, as internet-based social media was starting to become commonly used, a popular sentiment we often heard was:
“The internet isn’t real life.”
This was used as a way to devalue time spent on social media sites, and to dismiss harms that occurred on them.
Versions of this phrase are still around, such as in this tweet from statistician Nate Silver:
In that tweet, Nate Silver seems to be saying that conversations and views represented on Twitter are not representative of most people, thus devaluing the conversations and views expressed on Twitter.
We also see this phrase used to say that things seen on social media are not authentic, but are manipulated, such as people only posting their good news and not bad news, or people using photo manipulation software to change how they look.
We’re curious to see how this phrase is continued to be used, and how these sentiments are continuing, being rejected, or evolving.
2.1.3. Social Media and “Real Life”#
When we (the authors) were young, as internet-based social media was starting to become commonly used, a popular sentiment we often heard was:
This was used as a way to devalue time spent on social media sites, and to dismiss harms that occurred on them.
Versions of this phrase are still around, such as in this tweet from statistician Nate Silver:
In that tweet, Nate Silver seems to be saying that conversations and views represented on Twitter are not representative of most people, thus devaluing the conversations and views expressed on Twitter.
We also see this phrase used to say that things seen on social media are not authentic, but are manipulated, such as people only posting their good news and not bad news, or people using photo manipulation software to change how they look.
We’re curious to see how this phrase is continued to be used, and how these sentiments are continuing, being rejected, or evolving.
Reflection questions#
How often do you hear phrases like “social media isn’t real life”?
How do you think about the relationship between social media and “real life”?