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Public Health Campaigns   and Social Media Influence

Whilst it was thought that only celebrities would go under the knife for cosmetic and plastic surgery, it’s becoming more and more common for anyone to undergo these procedures. According to the SBS, as of 2019, Australians had spent 1 billion dollars on these kinds of procedures, and it’s only increasing (King, 2019).

Statistics gathered in 2017 by Dorfman depict how significant social media sites like Instagram have become in the plastic world. Under the hashtag #plasticsurgery, there were 523,361 images posted. The author suggests that it would be a good tool for doctors to eutilise to educate social media users on the positives and safety about cosmetic surgeries (Dorfman, Vaca, Mahmood, Fine, Schierle, 2017).

With the rise of cosmetic surgeries also came the birth of the term Plastic Positive, which hopes to bring a more positive association with the surgeries. It describes the people who are attempting to achieve an “extreme beauty” (Chaleyer, 2017).

Despite the fact that there is a push to make cosmetic procedures positive, there will always be a negative backlash. Popular singer Madison Beer had come under fire after denying having any cosmetic surgery when asked. Users persist that by supposedly lying about cosmetic surgery is promoting false beauty standards for women, especially with a younger fan base. A comment on a video of her denying a nose job wrote “She's promoting fake beauty standards, young girls with low self-esteem saying she's so beautiful and wish they looked like her... Truly saddening.” (Fly Ing, 2020).

Madison Beer responded to these comments saying “...First of all, I never asked to be any type of beauty standard. I think it’s really wrong to make it like I have to be what people compare themselves to.” (Glaze, 2020).

It would be reasonable for users online to feel this way, if Madison was in fact lying about surgery. Clinical psychologist Carla Marie Manly, Ph.D., says “those who are not able to achieve this truly impossible level of perfection secretly (or not-so-secretly) feel shamed and defective," (Malacoff, 2019). This emphasises the significant effect celebrity beauty standards can have on social media users, which may prompt unhealthy attempts to match this impossible standard or turn to cosmetic procedures.

REFERENCES

Doorfman, R., Vaca, E., Mahmood, E., Fine, N., & Schierle, F. (2017). Plastic Surgery-Related Hashtag Utilization on Instagram: Implications for Education and Marketing, Aesthetic Surgery Journal 2018, Vol 38(3) 332–338, Oxford University, United States of America

Chaleyer, R. (2017). These 'plastic positive' people are striving for "extreme beauty", SBS News. Retrieved from https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/plastic-positive-men-and-women-addicted-to-plastic-surgery

King, M. (2019). How much are Australians spending on cosmetic procedures, SBS News. Retrieved from https://www.sbs.com.au/news/insight/how-much-are-australians-spending-on-cosmetic-procedures

Glaze, V. (2020). Madison Beer slams critics for plastic surgery accusations on TikTok, Dexerto. Retrieved from https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/madison-beer-slams-critics-for-plastic-surgery-accusations-on-tiktok-1371875

Malacoff, J. (2019). How Celebrity Social Media Affects Your Mental Health and Body Image, Shape. Retrieved from https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/celebrity-social-media-affects-mental-health-body-image

Fly Ing (2020) (Video Comment). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX912iVMP0I

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Digital Citizenship Case Study: Slow Fashion

This week’s lecture was a big reflection on the greed of consumerism. Fast Fashion is the new, cheap, and unsustainable way, meaning that while it “makes shopping for clothes more affordable, it comes at an environmental cost.” (Johnsen, 2019). Recently, even I’ve noticed the great amount of fast fashion sites that have popped up over the years. With the growth of Fast Fashion sites, Fashion Revolution released a statement regarding the issue, stating "this is why, when garments are priced as cheaply as single-use items, it implies that our clothing is disposable. And if we buy that message, we are buying into a very ugly side of fashion." (Fressynet, 2020). This was in response to popular clothing brand releasing  £1 bikinis.

One of the most well-known fast fashion is SheIn, a Chinese online store that is infamous for its cheap, low quality clothes. It is low rated online by other sites, and is described as not providing “insufficient relevant information about how it reduces its impact on people, the planet and animals.” (Huynh, 2018) as faults.

On the other hand, to be a sustainable clothing brad is to “incorporate an economic, social, and/or environmental angle” into the production of clothes.  (Henniger, Ryding, Panayiota, Gowerek, 2017). An example of a clothing brand that is ethical and/or sustainable is Australia’s own Beginning Boutique. Founded by Sarah Timmerman in Brisbane, the business decided as of last year that they wished to make the change to make all factories of production ethical settings. The website originally ran in the fast fashion method in the beginning, as Sarah stated she didn’t have enough stock. As of 2019, the company has derived a sustainability plan, and aims to use recyclable products. She also believes that an ethical/sustainable company would treat their employees well too (Hui-Miller, 2019).

REFERENCES

McFall-Johnsen, M. (2019). The fashion industry emits more carbon than international flights and maritime shipping combined. Here are the biggest ways it impacts the planet, Business Insider Australia. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com.au/fast-fashion-environmental-impact-pollution-emissions-waste-water-2019-10?r=US&IR=T

Henninger, C.E, Ryding, D, Panayiota, A.J, & Goworek, H. (2017). Introduction to Sustainability in Fashion, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51253-2_1, London, United Kingdom.

Hui-Miller, J. (2019). From the source: Sarah Timmerman, Beginning Boutique, Insider Retail Australia. Received from https://insideretail.com.au/news/from-the-source-sarah-timmerman-beginning-boutique-201904

Huynh, C. (2018). Five Fast Fashion Brands We Avoid!, Good On You. Received from https://goodonyou.eco/five-fast-fashion-brands-we-avoid/

Fressynet, I. (2020). WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE: WHY SHEIN MIGHT BE THE BIGGEST RIP-OFF SINCE FAST FASHION WAS BORN, EuroNews. Received from https://www.euronews.com/living/2019/10/18/welcome-to-the-dark-side-shein-is-the-biggest-rip-off-since-fast-fashion-was-born

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What is Digital Citizenship? How social media is changing the election process.

To define a digital citizen as discussed in this week’s lecture would be someone that actively participates in discussion, communication and creation online (Mossberger, Tolbert and McNeal, 2008). One thing I found most interesting about the lecture, is the concept of cancel culture. Cancel culture are digital citizens attempt to police content posted or created online, or, collectively blocking someone online “from having a prominent public platform or career.” (Romano, 2019).

To be a good digital citizen in modern society, it has progressed past the simplistic ability to create and consume content online. The act of being a responsible digital citizen is significantly more important, especially from those who have a larger platform or following. Cancel culture essentially puts the power of what to accept into the hands of the people and/or collective, arguably one of the most powerful methods. GetUp! Australia defines people power as “more important than ever before” (GetUp!, 2017) and runs specially to encourage internet activism. The founders Jeremy Heimans and David Madden started the political activist group to hold governments accountable for disagreeable actions, and incite people to voice their opinions when they disagreed with a matter (Dubecki, 2007).

Whilst the people seem to be in positions to judge and police what is created on consumed on social media, it is questionable whether or not cancel culture is effective. James Charles, a popular beauty guru on YouTube has been cancelled countless times. The most recent time where he was (to use cancel language) ‘exposed’ by ex-friend and fellow YouTuber Tati. The 43-minute-long video titled ‘BYE SISTER’ exposes Charles’ behaviour, which included trying to seduce straight men, taking sponsorships with companies that rivalled her own, and being offensive when invited to her household. At the time, Charles lost over 3 million subscribers, and many Twitter users agreed that he was in fact, cancelled (Kesslen, 2019).

As of May 2020, Charles still has over 19 million subscribers (YouTube, 2020) and his videos are still receiving millions of views. Last year it was a collective mindset that Charles was a bad person, and the whole internet exploded under the #JamesCharlesIsOverParty. This year, it’s as if nothing had ever happened, and Charles continues to have a successful career. Conclusions drawn from this convey that cancel culture, whilst being fuelled by a known power such as people power, is not always effective.

REFERENCES

GetUp! (2017). 2017: The year people took back politics [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a1hUY53sOQ&feature=emb_title

Mossberger, K, Tolbert, C. & McNeal, R. (2008). Digital Citizenship, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

Romano, Aja (2019). Why we can’t stop fighting about cancel culture, Vox. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/30/20879720/what-is-cancel-culture-explained-history-debate Dubecki, L. (2007). The Mouse Click That Roared, The Age. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20170906042727/http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/the-mouseclick-that-roared/2007/02/23/1171734022013.html

Kesslen, B. (2019). The cancelling of James Charles: Beauty YouTuber loses 3 million subscribers in a weekend, NBC News. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cancelling-james-charles-beauty-youtuber-loses-3-million-subscribers-weekend-n1005131

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Innocent Tumblr users trying to escape the mishapocolypse by scrolling past our posts today like

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MISHAPOCOLYPSE

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How Does Tumblr Function as a Digital Community?

From its beginnings in 2007, Tumblr operates as a widely used and well-established social media site and has managed to reinvent blogging in a modern society. Users are able to follow other blogs (as well as private message and ask questions to other users), post text, images, videos or audio, as well as ‘re-blog’ posts from other users. The popularity of the site has asserted Tumblr as being a digital community. The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines a digital community as “a group of people, who may or may not meet one another face to face, who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of digital networks.” (Rheingold, 2008) Therefore, digital communities emphasise the connection of people, despite their lack of human contact.

The affordances and functionality of Tumblr affirm its ability to serve as a digital community. Habermas Public Sphere theory signifies the site’s ability for users to be anonymous, and able to share and communicate with each other. Habermas has claimed that “the public sphere can be revitalized in modernity through speech communities.” (Norris & Kruse, 2017, p. 63). In reference to Tumblr, users on the site actively ‘re-blog’ posts, text, image, audio etc. and then may add their own. This act not only is a direct communication between users, but also then forwards messages to the followers of the contributor.

Additional justification to Tumblr’s service as a digital community is the notation that the perception of a shared experience, will thus result in a sense of connectiveness (Heeringen, 2019). It could be stated that Tumblr users could feel this form of connectiveness through the contribution through re-blogging, as well as inside jokes (memes). The Mishapocolypse was born in 2013, on April 1st on Tumblr, where users would switch their avatars to that of popular actor Misha Collins, and only post content related to him. This inside joke/meme that originated on Tumblr can therefore bring users together over the shared interest, and shared understanding of the joke, in this manner signifying the digital community.

REFERENCES

Heeringen, J.E, (2019) I-Sharing in the Clinical Context: The Impact of Shared Subjective Experience on Ratings of the Therapeutic Alliance in a Brief Simulated Interview (PHD Thesis Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA) Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f746/98efb76192030f6eb9500554e819ed6693df.pdf?_ga=2.173813024.26254554.1587908215-86103488.1587908215

Kruse, L. & Norris, D. (2017) Social Media as a Public Sphere? Politics on Social Media The sociological Quarterly, 63. Retrieved from file:///Users/jokloppenborg/Downloads/Social%20Media%20as%20a%20Public%20Sphere%20Politics%20on%20Social%20Media.pdf

Milne, E. (2020). Lecture 2 Social Theory and Social Media. Retrieved from https://swinburne.instructure.com/courses/25664/external_tools/405

Rheingold, H.L, (2008). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/virtual-community

Know Your Meme: Mishapocolypse (2013). Retrieved from https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/mishapocalypse

[j0klo]

looove how creative and fun you made this! The connections to pop culture (especially one as iconic as carrie) make the content that much more interesting and enjoyable to read. The images across your posts are really effectively consistent, i just know your blog is going to be a really cool aesthetic!

Week 5: How does Tumblr function as a Digital Community?

Social media platform Tumblr has revitalised the traditional public sphere, also known as a digital community (Shirky 2011, p. 29). Tumblr qualifies as a public sphere due to users equal participation and full access to information (Kruse 2018, p.63), 3.7 million Australians have created a Tumblr account (Social Media News March 2020). Unlike other social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, where users are required to fill in personal details like their full name and phone number, Tumblr users can create anonymous accounts, protecting their participation. Tumblr users can become their curated self, with no way of friends and family members discovering users account without their unique blog title (Tumblr 2020). Another characteristic of a public sphere is an environment that is free from institutional influence, coercion, or surveillance (Kruse 2019). Access to the public sphere in traditional ways has decreased substantially for youth during the past two decades, while surveillance by parents and institutional authorities has greatly increased (Mccracken 2017, p. 155). However, according to Mccracken (2017, p.156), the microblogging platform Tumblr has been home to ‘fannish passions’ among youth, especially girls, people of colour and the LGBTQ fans. 

It has been argued the social media platform Tumblr priorities aesthetics, through its allowance of user-customised short-form blogs, hence Tumblr specific audience (Kruse 2018, p. 63). Through the freedom of expression from anonymity and limited institutions, it is believed Tumblr functions well as a digital community via the specific platform conventions. The term platform vernacular can explain Tumblrs unique communication genres that develop in accordance with platform affordances (Keller 2019, p 3). Platform vernacular recognises the ongoing interactions between platforms and users (Keller 2019, p. 3). This unique interaction is evident with Tumblr users unique gif and photo-reaction to posts, an example of Tumblr users posting strategies. 

In my personal opinion, I found Tumblr’s safe environment intriguing, due to Tumblr users anonymity, Tumblr’s digital community is more accepting and hence a platform for minority individuals. Whereas, compared to other social media platforms, pressures to conform exist due to the judgement of peers, a community revolved around likes and a false idea of normality; How many likes does your photo get? Are you rich enough to be an influencer? Are you pretty enough? This idea is similar to the concept explored in a Black Mirror episode 'Nosedive’. For those who haven’t watch this episode, I recommend as it tackles the negative connotations of social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Furthermore, proving Tumblr’s unique platform characteristics and effective digital community. 

I wonder, To be a couple social media user, do you have to put your single self individual identity on a shelf? (season:4 episode:14) 

Reference List: 

Keller, J 2019, ‘”Oh she’s a Tumblr feminist”: Exploring The Platform Vernacular of Girls’ Social Media Feminisms’, Social Media + Society, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 1-11.

Kruse, LM, Norris, D & Flinchum, J 2018, ‘Social Media as a Public Sphere? Politics on social media’, The Sociological Quarterly, vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 62-84. 

Mccracken, A 2017, ‘Tumblr Youth Subcultures and  Media engagement’, Cinema Journal, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 151 – 162. 

Milne, E 2020, ‘MDA20009 Digital Communities Intro Lecture’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Modules via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology, 4 March, viewed 4 March 2020. 

Shirky, C 2011, ‘The Political Power of Social Media: Technology, The Public Sphere, and Political Change’, Foreign Affairs, vol. 90, no. 1, pp. 28 – 41. 

Social Media News March 2020, Social media statistics Australia – March 2020, Social Media Statistics Australia, posted April 1, viewed April 20 2020, 

< https://www.socialmedianews.com.au/social-media-statistics-australia-march-2020/>. 

Tumblr 2020, About Tumblr, Tumblr, viewed 18 April 2020, <https://www.tumblr.com/about>.

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