Social Isolation In Hulu By Matt Spicer

1239 Words3 Pages

It is often said that those closest to a problem are closest to its solution. But in order to start working on the solution to a problem, you must start by defining the problem. Social isolation is a modern anxiety that uses social media as its vessel, the abuse of social media distorts the good that it was created to do: bring people together and enable them to learn from each other and share experiences. Ingrid Goes West is a movie released at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, later available for viewing on Hulu by its director Matt Spicer. Ingrid Goes West is an impeccable example of a modern mythic narrative designed to explain the reason why social isolation occurs, what causes social isolation, and the proposed solution to this problem. …show more content…

Ingrid’s problem was that she was already bipolar, but her bipolar depression was hidden until the end of the movie where she tries to commit suicide. Ingrid Goes West also explains that the problem of social isolation is downplayed by many older generations grouping millennials together as narcissistic and blaming the world’s problems on technology. This does not help anyone work towards a solution; it just shows how far people will go to shift the blame off of themselves. In the movie it can be inferred that social media is simply the tool being used to blame new problems on, similar to guns being used to blame for a rising death rate. Ingrid wakes up in a hospital after her attempted suicide to her fake/now real boyfriend kissing her from his wheelchair. At this point she opens her eyes and sees all the flowers and presents she received from her suicide video that went viral. This movie never offered a specific solution, but one possible solution that can be pulled out of this movie’s message is to look away from our devices to see who is really there because there are people around; no one is really socially …show more content…

The anxiety that fast-paced social media creates with social isolation necessitates a reason to take a tech break and de-stress, just like Ingrid had to. Social media is everywhere now, and too much of it can distort our worldview with the constant notifications and 24 hour news channels. This movie was created so that the age range from 15-28, the group of true digital natives can figure out their own way in the world– since birth these millennials have developed skills to learn how to be good citizens in the digital world, something that was not a problem in older generations. Ingrid is a perfect example of the fear of social isolation social media creates for society today. It necessitates breaks every so often, as Ingrid took her break in the hospital; her mind and body needed to relax from the hyper-activity of social media to re-center each other around positivity and real relationships. This problem of social isolation anxiety is so widespread and very likely to follow those affected by it now through their adult years; it needs to be addressed immediately, only after that can a head start on a solution

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