SOCIETY AS A LIMITATION TO IDENTITY FORMATION AND SELFEXPRESSION

Instagram and other forms of todays social media has been frequently
held to have revolutionized social relationships, human interaction, and
various aspects of public and private life. It has, without a doubt, opened
vast opportunities for the enrichment and ease of human interaction.
However, such unprecedented revolutionary changes as to the
aforementioned aspects of human life and society has also brought about
new forms of social control, a different sense of deviance, and a somewhat
refurbished concept of identity and self-expression especially for the youth in
the context of societal life.
It is no secret that Instagram, like other social networking sties, are
based around profiles, a form of individual home page, which offers a
description of each person belonging to the online community. It provides for
the user an option to upload or share any image or video about himself, his
life, and practically anything that has something to do with him or something
completely random. It also provides users to not only view but also comment
on whatever members of the online community post or share. The entire
network, therefore, is by and large a subsisting society, a community of
human beings interacting virtually, very much like the physical society that
we encounter on a daily basis, the only difference being that such
interactions take place in virtual reality.
Countless studies have focused on the lack of actual physical
interaction amongst the populace of online communities. While such reality
may be argued by some as the very revolution that social media has
introduced in todays society, it may also be the very reason for
unprecedented social problems that are gradually shaping the face of human
interaction as we see today. These realities, which are generally realities
created within the fabric of the social media revolution, have become part
and parcel of human interaction. In the same manner, such realities are also
what shape the individual identity and manner of self-expression in a virtual
society.
Engagement
Engagement in the world of Instagram means that members of society
take active participation rather than merely viewing an uploaded post. An
element of society participates by liking posts, leaving comments or reviews
therewith, viewing photos and/or videos from the other users, or reposting

the same. It is fundamental in Instagram to highlight the engagement

process of users. However, there are other members of society who are not
within the engagement process.
These include people from the
underprivileged section who do not have sufficient means to buy tools or
gadgets where Instagram is made available as well as society members who
were born in a period which did not impose upon them substantial
technological literacy, thus challenging them to be in the same pacing with
the technology-inclined people.

Social Media Mishaps

Instagram provides each member of the society with a way to connect
with old friends, present colleagues or future acquaintances. However,
society must be careful enough in protecting their information and watch
closely the comments and concerns which each member receives while
taking active part in Instagram. When society subject itself too much to
Instagram without any guard, the usage could result to mishaps such as
sharing too much information either through photos and/or videos uploaded
or captions attached to said photos; or loss of confidential information. The
viral nature of Instagram posts causes one mistake of a user involving
devastating consequences.

Ethics
Social media which encompasses Instagram is personal and
international. Hence, challenges arise with being ethical online. Ethics on
social media includes honesty as well as avoidance of false representations,
respecting the dignity of other users, and taking responsibility of mistakes
committed.
With the invention of Instagram, society is able to grasp a hint with the
captions, photos or videos that each individual expects to read, see or hear.
In this connection, a user is encouraged to adapt with the demands of
society. His posts become limited to those which will conform well to the
wants of the majority, thereby, creating an arena for dishonest or false
representation of oneself.
Moreover, Instagram allows users to set their account publicly and
provides them with opportunity to view the posts recently liked either by

their followers or by the users that they are following. Along with this, society
is given the freedom to share opinion by leaving comments to posts of public
users. However, such freedom could go beyond the limitations of selfexpression as when people give blunt remarks disregarding the feelings of
the owner of the subject account or of the other users commenting on the
same profile. Thus, disrespect for ones dignity transpires.
Further, the liberty obtained from Instagram has caused users to share
posts which are originals of other people. In reposting or grabbing posts, one
may possibly commit mistakes with regard to information affixed thereto
resulting to wrong and unreliable details pertaining to a certain post. When
this instance comes into play, each user should take responsibility of his
mistakes which society has forgotten to do because of indulging itself too
much with the privileges of Instagram.

A Mere Trend and Nothing More

Basically, before posting a photograph or a video on Instagram, the
process would first revolve around slightly (or totally) adding filters and
modifying brightness, contrast and hues of a photograph to achieve a
desired appearance in order to capture more attention or most number of
the so-called Likes. Instagram has caused people to upload photos which
would appeal to the other users. While Instagram allows people to share
photos and/or videos and accompany such with caption that would tell
stories about themselves or their daily activities, the application has also
resulted into unhealthy effects. For example, a user would upload photo
every day because his followers or the people he follows also do the same. In
this sense, he becomes motivated no longer by his need or want to express
or share himself with others, but by the trend dictated by society.

Reference:
Author Unknown. Social Media Marketing. Retrieved March 14, 2015 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_marketing
Van Den Braak, Hilde. The Pros and Cons of Using Instagram for Social Medi
Marketing. Retrieved March 14, 2015 from
http://vbbassociates.com/instagram-for-social-media-marketing/

Livingston, S (2008). Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation:

teenagers use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy, and selfexpression. New Media & Society June 2008 vol. 10 no. 3 393-411
Buckingham, D (2008). Youth, Identity, and Digital Media. The John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning.
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008.