Undergraduate Isp
The use of social media and its influence on human’s behaviour and society has been a contentious issue in recent years. Many have defined social media as ‘social networking sites and defined them as web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system’ (boyd & Ellison, 2008) ; ‘a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological the foundation of Web 2.0 and allow the creation and exchange of user generated content” and “neutral platforms fostering communication’ (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010) or ‘Internet-based tools that promote collaboration and information sharing’ (Junco, Helbergert, & Loken, 2011). With such rapid growth of the popularity of social media and smartphones, which allow people to browse the internet and connect with people online more effectively, some have claimed that it has changed human behaviours, social values, identity and even product branding. In this project, I photographed these images regarding this issue and aim to analyse the issue with theoretical researches.
01
< Silence >
I used the black and white effect as the main theme for my images. In colour theory, the colour contrast creates the strongest visual effect. (Kim, 2019) The black and white effect, which also represent the darkest and lightest, helps to clarify the photos and makes them easy to understand. Another reason for choosing black and white effect is to make a contrast with social media, which is represented as social media logos in this image. The month is covered in the photo because with the rise and popularity of social media, people use social media to communicate instead of having face-to-face interaction or even not talking on phones. Social media logos are added in the eye to bring out the message that those who addicted to social media can only see it in their eye (left), another one (right) is in the darkness, which also means they see the world with one eye(social media) only.
02
< Behind >
The idea of this image is using social media as the shadow behind people – something that follows them everywhere (due to the rise of smartphones people can now browse social media not only at home). Postman pointed out that every new technology for thinking, especially in the history of communication, involves a tradeoff. (Postman, 1985) It takes something away from people but also gives something back. Take social media as an example, many claimed it focused too much on entertainment and the popularity of it results in the lack of face-to-face interaction between people. However, it also creates a medium for faster communication as well as to build a connection between people. According to The Uses and Gratifications Theory, it is about what people do with media rather than what the media does to people. It claimed that “Far from being duped by the media, this “audience” is represented as made up of individuals free to reject, use or play with them.” (Blumler and Katz, 1974) The audience is not just passively receiving the message, but also actively receiving messages in their ways, such as different interests and life experiences. It can also be connected to the idea of screen culture and the Big Brother.
