Social Media, ‘Society of the Spectacle’, and their Effects
I made this for an English 101 class.
Social Media, ‘Society of the Spectacle’, and their Effects
The internet and social media have received frequent praise, but in an age where the only way one can interact is through a screen, a more critical and analytical look at social media and its effects has become a necessity. One analytical lens that can be used to take a deeper look at social media is the one created by the social theorist, philosopher, and revolutionary, Guy Debord. In 1967, Debord published his magnum opus, “The Society of The Spectacle”. In it, he proposed that under the reign of capitalism, human life has receded from living to having and from having to appearing (Nunn). He called the most modern development of the decline of having into appearing “the spectacle”. In the modern age, social media has become the perfect soil for the seed of the spectacle and as that seed has grown it has had far-reaching effects. Guy Debord’s “Society of The Spectacle” realized through social media has led to an increased rate of mental illness in teenagers, materialistic values, and more superficial relationships.
Social media has taken over a large portion of users’ lives and as its effects are investigated it is important that Debord’s theory and its connection to social media are made apparent. In his book, “The Society of the spectacle” Guy Debord argues that “everything that was directly lived has receded into a representation”. This is to say that commodifiable appearances have become more important to modern culture than reality. An example is that it is more important that one appears to be enjoying their life rather than enjoying their life or that it is more important that one appears to be successful rather than actually being successful. This new social reality, in which people’s lives have been transformed into images and appearances, is named the spectacle. Social Media, in its chokehold on modern culture, has become the epitome of a society dominated by the spectacle. In her essay, Emilie Nunn, states that “A clear link has been identified between social media and Debord's concept of the spectacle. This identification has provided an update to Debord's ideas in formulating what can be viewed as an emergence of a new stage of the spectacle within social media.” Nunn speaks to how social media has created the perfect platform for the proliferation of the spectacle and its inauthentic representation of reality and human existence. Social media has become the perfect tool for the spectacle to make itself the dominant force in culture and in society, and the effects of its dominion upon its subjects cannot be ignored.
When exploring the vast and anarchic land of social media, especially for those with developing minds, the quantitative judgment of one’s image, and the proliferation of the spectacle within social media can have an extremely negative effect on mental well-being and self-esteem. One feature of social media that is unique within the dominion of the spectacle is the ability to like and follow which can be very dangerous to the mental wellbeing of users. As Dr. Roberto Martinez-Pecino observed in his study, “Likes and Problematic Instagram Use: The Moderating Role of Self-Esteem” “One of the key factors associated to addiction and excessive behavior is the reward. In the context of social network sites (SNS), ‘‘likes’’ constitute a highly visible way of obtaining rewards and recognition. Thus, it is suggested that likes may serve as status and popularity cues.” This feature which assigns a value to a person’s image and their representation, as Martinez-Pecino found, can lead to extremely detrimental effects to user self-esteem. This detriment finds its origin in that people are judged based upon the presentation of themselves, and they can easily become addicted to the positive reinforcement given by these likes and can have their self-esteem damaged from not receiving enough likes or followers. Another threat to self-esteem in social media can be found when users compare themselves to what can be described as the bourgeoisie of social media, influencers. In the realm of social media “The viewer often presumes that what is portrayed within the frame is genuine and the reality of the creator. The viewer only needs to passively gaze at the image to then presume the lifestyle that extends from it” (Nunn). As Nunn describes those who gaze upon the posts and the representations of influencers often automatically assume the reality that is presented to them is a true one, while often it is not. When influencers present themselves to be more attractive, successful, or happy than they really are, they make the viewer feels small since the viewer cannot compete with the false reality presented by the influencer. The viewer will ask themselves why they are not as attractive, or successful as the influencer, or why they do not get as many likes or followers. Social media and the spectacle have frequently found themselves as the detriment for user mental health, and what can only serve to make these symptoms worse is the overwhelming presence of materialistic values and consumerism in cyberspace.
Taking another look at the influencer one can see the rampant materialistic and consumerist values that are disseminated throughout social media by the spectacle. The kernel to consumerism and the spectacle within social media is the influencer, the most prolific spreader of commodified images within social media. In his analysis of celebrities, Debord says “As specialists of apparent life, stars serve as superficial objects that people can identify with, in order to compensate for the fragmented productive specializations that they actually live. The function of these celebrities is to act out various lifestyles or sociopolitical viewpoints in a full, totally free manner” (Debord). As Debord states the celebrity, and its sibling the influencer, serve to advertise and sell a certain lifestyle and because users are convinced that this lifestyle is one they actually live, they can sell users products. Since users truly believe that this influencer lives the life that they present to them, users are willing to buy the products influencers have been sponsored to advertise. In function, the social media influencer has become nothing more than a billboard waiting for someone to pay to put up an ad. Social media is the perfect platform for this behavior as it provides all the onlookers that are required for the continued production of these adverts. Nunn states that “The spectacle places emphasis on ownership and materialism and how the promise of both is only truly fulfilled by the gaze of society, rather than through acquirement alone. Social media provides this gaze and in the context of today, the gaze of others is even more present” (Nunn). As Nunn clarifies, the spectacle is not truly complete or “fulfilled” without onlookers taking it in, and social media provides more viewers than could have ever been possible when Debord first established the spectacle. The spectacle has led to the unyielding spread of consumerism and materialism throughout social media; similarly, it has led to the proliferation of superficiality in relationships.
Social Media is often advertised to create new opportunities for people to connect, but social media serves only to create an abundance of superficial relationships. The spectacle in its focus upon representation rather than truth has taken away realistic presentations of the self, making meaningful relationships far harder to come by. Debord states that “The spectacle is not a collection of images; it is a social relation between people that is mediated by images” Debord illustrates how the spectacle takes away the emphasis on the people within a relationship and puts that focus on their stylized representations, the two-dimensional depictions of the people. This aspect of the spectacle has had its effect on the digital world of social media. In his study “The Impact of Social Media on Society” Jacob Amendie describes how “to fit in, in our profiles we try to portray perfectly happy and trendy facades because that’s what we see others doing. As a result, our profiles reflect how we want to be perceived, rather than showing an honest picture of who we truly are. Thus, many would rather embrace this “happy” safe illusion of virtual connection rather than share and develop real-life relationships.” As Amendie describes, online users do not portray their true selves, but a stylized representation of themselves, and this ‘facade’ is not taken off when users begin to interact with other people. The sterilized representations that are put up by users to hide the reality of their lives and make real connection and intimacy on social media a rare occurrence. While it is true that social media has made people more connected than ever, these connections rarely move past the surface level as the seemingly unbreakable wall of the spectacle stands in the way of meaningful connection.
Social Networking sites have become the chariots on which the spectacle rides and it is now more than ever important that a closer look is taken at what is left their wake. Social media, in its fulfillment of a society controlled by the spectacle, has led to high rates of addiction and low self-esteem, the dissemination of consumerism and its advertisements, and the inability of the online to establish meaningful relationships. In 1994 Guy Debord, overwhelmed by his vision of the society around him and overcome by depression, took his own life. In a world where most interaction with friends and family has been through an LCD monitor, it is extremely important that not only is an analysis of the modern world taken up, but in such an analysis, there is room left for hope.
Works Cited
Amedie, Jacob. The Impact of Social Media on Society - Santa Clara University. Santa Clara University, 9 Mar. 2015, https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=engl_176.
Debord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacle. Critical Editions, 2021.
Martinez-Pecino, Roberto, and Marta Garcia-Gavilán. “Likes and Problematic Instagram Use: The Moderating Role of Self-Esteem.” Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, vol. 22, no. 6, 2019, pp. 412–416., https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2018.0701.
Nunn, Emilie. “Social Media as an Extension of Guy Debord’s the Society of the Spectacle (1967).” Journal of Arts Writing by Students, vol. 5, no. 1, 2019, pp. 79–91., https://doi.org/10.1386/jaws.5.1.79_1.