Social Media Theory Essay

instances of self-image as a pre-cursors to general deviance and aggressive behaviors (Barlow, 1991).
While O’Keefe & Clarke-Pearson studied the effects of social media on children, Schau, & Gilly (2003) chronicled the social effects of the internet on young adult users. The researchers believed that extended consequences of social media on adults effected Firestone’s critical inner voice (Schau, & Gilly 2003). Schau and Gilly believed that social media skewed the dynamic that exists as a negative filter through which to view our life and decisions we make (Schau, & Gilly 2003). The researchers theorized that the voice is created during times of stress or trauma during early adolescence and can be influenced by both positive and negative
The cultural deviance theory states that social disorganization and delinquency are linked, resulting in crime as a normal response to the social, structural and cultural characteristics of a community (Snodgrass, 1976). This theory uses cultural mapping to explain that people are not inherently deviant, but they are influenced by circumstance of the society they exist in (Snodgrass, 1976). As individuals react and develop idealized cyber-self-images, their aspirations and their opinions, as Rogers suggests, become unattainable in their real-world circumstances. The social media user is unwilling to accept the expectations of normal society which cannot rationalize the relevance of the individual’s cyber self-image. As the realities clash directly the hierarchy of the cultural deviance theory dispenses itself and leads the individual to blame society as a whole and seek rebellious avenues to reinforce the relevance of the individual over the good of
The researcher’s survey reported that almost half of social media users felt a slightly uncomfortable feeling before publishing updates that were not fully factual or accurate (Schau & Gilly, 2003. The findings suggest that many social media users were conflicted by an internal battle between their idealized cyber-self-images and their inner voice of reason. Such a conflict would support the research findings of prior efforts by Ashton, Barkley, Beaty et. al. and Miller and Lynam , that suggest that the social conflict perspective when internalized creates a manifestation of bitterness and resentment of authority and social norms. Taken in the context of antisocial patterns of development as offered by the researchers Berry, Ones, & Sackett, social media users may be demonstrating a resentment of social structures and social stratifications caused by the conflict between their cyber expectations and their real world self-image (Berry, Ones, & Sackett,