Social Media and Psychology Part 1

            My goal for this discussion post is to explore the remediation of the self through social media. To begin, it is important to ask if the “self” even exists without mediation. In Descartes’ Cogito Ergo Sum, Descartes posits that, in order for one to doubt their own existence, one must exist as a being that has the capacity to doubt. Many modern philosophers object to the Cogito by claiming that it contains circular logic. When Descartes states, “I think,” he is already assuming that there is an “I” that is thinking. Since Descartes’ starting place is that the self exists, his proof is then meaningless. Some suggest that a better starting statement would be “there are thoughts.” However, even this statement implies that “thoughts” are objects, and by suggesting that “there are thoughts,” it is assumed that there is some reality for these thoughts to exist in. Perhaps this is all semantics, but it can be extrapolated from this statement (somewhat shakily) that there exists an idea of a “self” in some type of “reality.” As self-conscious creatures, we are aware of this “self,” but only by processing the concept through the “self” that we are examining. In a way, self-consciousness is like trying to look at a telescope by using that same telescope to look. Obviously, the self is a much more complicated medium than a telescope, but the simile exemplifies the intricacy of self-consciousness.

            In addition to this, one’s self can be examined by an outsider. Although this removes some of the complexities of self-consciousness, the self that the outsider observes now must pass through a second medium – sight, sound, etc. – and then through the observer’s own self. This remediation inevitably produces distortion, at which point it meets the observer, whose own desires, emotions, and self-awareness twist it until it would barely be recognizable by the original self. All this is to show that, even when two people are face-to-face, the interactions between their egos is extraordinarily complicated.

            With the invention of social media, people now have unprecedented control over the remediation of the self. As self-conscious creatures, we live aware of ourselves, but also aware that other people recognize us as “selves.” However, the intricacies of self-consciousness described above make it tremendously difficult to overcome our own biases. Humans are notoriously bad at judging how other people see them. Research on psychological phenomena like The Spotlight Effect show that humans consistently over approximating the amount that other people take notice of them in social situations. On a personal level, almost everyone can tell when someone is trying too hard to impress the people around them, and in most cases, it lowers our opinions of that individual. However, most of these phenomena rely on direct contact with others. For hundreds of thousands of years, evolution has selected for the ability to comprehend and judge others through face-to-face interaction. It is understandable that humans are not fully equipped to handle social media. I am going to address the implications of the ability to curate one’s own self, and digest the selves of others, so easily in my next discussion post.