By Cassie Knight
How Many Likes Do You Receive? Do You Feel Worthy?
When you post to Instagram, does the amount of attention your post receives affect you? If it does I can tell you, you aren’t alone. If I post a photo and it doesn’t do as well with engagement as other posts do, I typically will think about deleting it.
Why Do We Enjoy The Likes?
A study was done that showed the parts of the brain activate when teens see loads of likes on their posts. The brain circuits that were activated can also be activated by winning or eating chocolate. The researchers preformed an MRI on the teens brains while they cruised through social media.
My Personal Experience
In high school, I had a friend who was obsessed with posting to her Instagram. She would only post in the evenings to maximize the amount of followers seeing it. After she posted, she’d let the post stay up for 1 hour. If the post over over 50 likes, it stays. If it got under 50, it was deleted. Everytime she would delete a post, she would say she wasn’t enough.
Thinking of her now reminds me of a show called Black Mirror. The show explores future technology, morality and has a amazing sci-fi feel. Specifically an episode called Nosedive (Season 3, Episode 1). The episode is about a society where you are rated as a person. The higher the rating, the more elite you are.
After watching that show, you can’t not see the connections it makes to our everyday lives.
What to do?
Don’t get caught up in the appeal of likes and following. Enjoy the real world without your eyes glued to your ntoification screen.
Sources
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 