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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014
PAGE 7
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TECHNOLOGY
Popularity on social media creates anxiety
MAGGIE ROSSITER
entertain@kansan.com
If your Instagram doesn't get 11 likes or more, you should probably take it down because having anything less is embarrassing. If your tweet doesn't get retweeted and favorited more than five times, it probably wasn't creative enough. Make sure your Pinterest boards only have the newest fashion trends and choose a profile picture on Facebook that is you looking your absolute best.
Although these "rules" aren't written in a bible of social media somewhere, social media is shaping us to believe that the amount of likes or favorites we receive on a photo, tweet, Pinterest pin or Facebook post is an indication of how well we are liked as a person.
Although some believe that social media brings us closer together, research disagrees. According to the book, "Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity, and Branding in the Social Media Age" by Alice E. Marwick, social software may inadvertently promote inequality rather than countering it. She states that "metrics," such as a number of likes on a photo, egg on this inequality ideology by making social status something that can be quantified, qualified and publicized.
By looking at what others post, we begin to mold ourselves to a new measurement of what is considered normal and acceptable. We start thinking about what others would like to see us post instead of what we want to post.
This constant want to please and impress our social media audience brings about a variety of anxieties.
According to the article, "The Six Major Anxieties of Social Media," by Maureen O'Connor, each social media outlet rewards a different human behavior and gives rise to a specific inferiority complex. For example, Instagram gives users fear of missing out, or FOMO, Twitter produces the fear of looking dumb and Pinterest triggers the fear of domestic inequality. Alyssa Mitchell, a sophomore from Overland Park, says she thinks people feel the most anxiety when posting pictures on Instagram, "It's a comparison game," Mitchell said. "If their picture only gets three likes versus someone else's post that gets 13, it's somehow inferior."
But, it isn't just the big names of social media that provoke these anxieties. Even Spotify and LinkedIn cause their users to re-evaluate their public presence. What happens if you listen to the same song too many times in a row? What if
my profile doesn't look professional enough?
Although these side-effect anxieties of social media seem to have a firm grasp on our social media presence, AJ Kim, a junior from Lansing, believes that social media and technology are still positive outlets and will continue to better society in the future. "I think the impact that technology will have in the future can be used for the better," Kim said. "People posting more photos of themselves will help get rid of self-consciousness about looks. For example, Snapchat. I get more funny faced snap chats than anything."
As the technology of our world continues to grow and improve, what we must understand are the positives and negatives that come from social media. We are a society that thrives off of our interconnectedness and our ability to communicate in a matter of seconds. Although there seems to be no clear answer how to rid yourself of these social media anxieties, embrace your social media audience and post what you yourself deem appropriate. Whether it's 100 likes or one favorite, let social media posts become just posts, instead of material to judge.
- Edited by Amber Kasselman
TELEVISION
"It's giant! It's a big TV moment!" says Fallon. "Even if it wasn't me, I would tune in to watch."
A Manhattan home base perfectly suits its new host, a consummate New Yorker, while bringing it under the same
Already Fallon is immersed in this kind of fun. For five years he hosted NBC's "Late Night," a job he relinquished only days ago. And now he's looking ahead to the Big Show, "The Tonight Show," where Monday, at the special time of midnight EST, he retrieves Carson's mantle — back in New York after 42 years in Los Angeles.
The show will even recommission that sacred space Studio 6B where Carson reigned before his 1972 move west.
Back in New York, where both "The Tonight Show" and Carson as its host made their start, this 60-year-old TV institution is poised to pick up the legend from where it languished after Carson's 1992 retirement.
1 wish Johnny Carson was
Jimmy Fallon, host of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," will debut as host of his new show, "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon," on Feb. 17.
huffingtonpost.com
--still around, so he could see what we did with his studio," says Fallon. "I can't WAIT to show everybody!"
According to a recent study released by non-profit Anxiety UK, more than half of the social media users polled said Facebook, Twitter and other networking sites had changed their lives — and 51 percent of those said it's not been for the better.
Fallon first became popular during his six years on "Saturday Night Live," where he displayed a chameleonic range of characters and impersonations, plus a musicality that grants him uncanny skill at mimicking numerous recording stars.
Forty-five percent of responders said they feel "worried or uncomfortable" when email and Facebook are inaccessible, while 60 percent of respondents stated "they felt the need to switch off" their phones and computers to secure a full-fledged break from technology.
SOCIAL MEDIA STATISTICS
Sixty-two percent of adults who are currently a member of more than one social networking site say they keep an eye on their social networks because they don't want to miss something, such as news or an important event or status update.
Data also revealed that two-thirds of respondents had difficulty sleeping after using social media, and 25 percent admitted to difficulties in relationships because of "confrontational online" behavior.
his key strength as host boils down to his unflagging engagement. says "Tonight Show" producer Josh Lieb.
Wait in line at the DMV
According to the 2012 Connecting and Communicating Online: State of Social Media study consumers' — that is, online adults in the U.S. who are 18 and older — fear of missing out (FOMO) may be heightened by their growing reliance on social networks.
"He's got genuine empathy for his guests and for the audience," he said. "He's trying to give them the best of himself."
Nearly 40 percent of people surveyed would rather do any of the following than give up their social networking profiles:
hallowed roof (NBC's Rockefeller Center headquarters) as "Late Night" and "Saturday Night Live," other jewels in the crown of Lorne Michaels, its new executive producer.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
But even as the 39-year-old waxes eagerness about the new "Tonight Show," he wants everyone to know it won't really be so different, after all: essentially an hour-earlier "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon," including its house band, the Roots (though this eight-piece ensemble will expand by two horns), its announcer-sidekick, Steve Higgins, and comic bits like "Slow Jam the News" and "Thank-you Notes."
Read "War and Peace"
Do their taxes
But the dominant photo is a portrait of Johnny Carson, aglow in front of his "Tonight Show" drapes.
Give up an hour of sleep each night for a year
Sit in traffic for four hours while listening to polka music
Run a marathon
New 'Tonight Show' arrives with Jimmy Fallon as host
It also allows "Tonight" to make a clean break from its turbulent post-Carson era under Jay Leno (and, fleetingly, Conan O'Brien), when the Carson-bequeathed formula of jokes, celebs and chitchat was, too often, upstaged by behind-the-scenes soap opera. Leno was consistently the late-night ratings winner, but never won much respect from the public, critics, or even his own network, which twice sent him packing from "Tonight."
NEW YORK — On the walls of Jimmy Fallon's office are photos. Lots of photos. Of his 2007 marriage to film producer Nancy Juvenen. Of their 6-month-old daughter, Winnie. Of his mom and dad as newlyweds. Fallon points them all out to a visitor proudly.
Get a root canal
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Spend a night in jail
Clean the drains in the showers at the local gym
Give up their air conditioners and heaters
Millennials are even less likely to part with their beloved social networks: More than half (54 percent) of 18- to 34-year-old social media users would undertake one of the undesirable activities before giving up their social media profiles.
— mylife.com
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