Dear Hansika

This is an interesting question which I have asked people informally before, but I have never had the time to test it (which I think would be difficult). I would be very interested in any findings you have!

Some ways of thinking about this relate to Foucault's Panopticon and objective self-awareness. I think that when we look at our own SNS profile we see ourselves through the eyes of others, like we do when we look in a mirror. If you look at the literature on objective self-awareness, often induced with a mirror, you will see that it indeed makes people behave differently. You could also see SNS as a sort of surveillance camera. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing (well, almost), you always run the risk of someone uploading pictures/movies of you to a public social network site and showing the world what you are doing. This risk is believed to make people act differently too.

Related to my own research, I think that people now may optimize their physical appearance more in more diverse social situations, because it is more likely a picture of them will be uploaded to a SNS and all their contacts will see this. This could be the same for experiences. I have found some evidence, in an experiment I conducted, that women adapt their online self-presentations to what they think they will be judged on by others.

I am interested to hear any other suggestions on this topic!

Dian

Well, I should express that there are many people with the online life, and are linked to the need of uploading every hour and every though, and SNS provides the perfect environment for that. Also there people that are isolated from these issues, but also need to be connected, like researchers. It is an interesting topic to talk about.

Yes, I think more and more, experiences are governed by our need to share them on SNS and via mobile communication (Whatts App etc.). A quote by Sherry Turkle captures this development quite well - even though her pessimism might be a little exaggerated: "It used to be that people had a way of dealing with the world that was basically, 'I have a feeling, I want to make a call.' Now I would capture a way of dealing with the world, which is: 'I want to have a feeling, I need to send a text.'." (http://www.npr.org/2012/10/18/163098594/in-constant-digital-contact-we-feel-alone-together)

This is visible in many domains that have changed since the advent of Facebook & co.: holidays, nightlife, eating out etc. In some situations I have also acted differently than I would have without social media. For example, during holidays I took some of the photos only because I wanted to share them on Facebook. Thus, I think my way of doing sightseeing and discovering new places is affected by the existence of Facebook... And I'm sure for other people other areas of their daily lives have changed in similar ways due to social media.

But not only the things we say and do (~stage) to share them are worthy of investigation. We should also consider the things we don't say and do because of self-censorship and the fear of being exposed, as you mentioned, Dian. I'm not sure if the Panopticon is the right metaphor, though, as it describes a one way-surveillance (warden and prisoner), while what happens on social media in terms of self-censorship is also - and maybe more of - a self-inflicted censorship in the sense of a "spiral of silence" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_of_silence)... Interestingly enough, there are increasingly ways to analyze this self-censorship: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/12/facebook_self_censorship_what_happens_to_the_posts_you_don_t_publish.html

@Dian: The physical appearance angle is an interesting one, definitely. What i want when i raised this question was whether a person will push him/herself to experience new things solely because he/she is motivated to show others that they did. Objective self-awareness would also play a role, but my query doesn't concern other people uploading your experiences, but you yourself wanting to experience X Y Z to upload it. Difficult to test indeed :)

@Felix: Definitely, but what do you think motivates that sot of behaviour? Why upload every thought?

@Christoph: An extremely interesting comment. Although I do not take pictures with the intent of uploading them, once i have taken a picture, it takes a great deal of self-control NOT to upload it onto an SNS. By extension, could this dependency between experiences and uploading be assessed by the frustration an individual feels when he/she cannot share those experiences?

Great input, I am enjoying reading your comments. Hansika, thanks for asking this interesting question.

I think I was a bit unclear about how objective self-awareness may relate to what you upload rather than what others may upload about you (I got sidetracked). One process I might see happening is:

- When you upload something, you have your audience in mind. What will people like, and, literally "like". What will they think of you etc. This will govern your posting. This is in addition or at the cost posting your thoughts about what you think about what you are doing and how you feel. This is the objective self-awareness aspect: you think of yourself through other people's eyes.

- What you see yourself doing is thought to influence how you see yourself (if you find this interesting, look up Bem self-perception theory). So who you think you are will be influenced by what you see yourself posting on a SNS.

- In the end you may start being/living/experiencing more according to this "new view" you have of yourself, which may be governed more by this view which others have of you. For example, going to the cooler parties, backpacking etc. This may be not just to get the Likes and the comments anymore, but because this is how you now see yourself.

This may be way too far-fetched and I think people also differ in the degree to which they are influenced by what others think of them (public self-consciousness vs private self-consciousness), but I am curious to hear your thoughts about such a process.

By the way, is it a lot different than living in a small town where everyone always knows what you are doing? Maybe the type of experiences which are valued, but maybe not the process? E.g., You go to church just so you can show the town what a good Christian you are, even if you are not religious.

I think this answer is maybe too much about SNS influencing our general behavior and self-views (this is what my dissertation is about), rather than engaging in one specific experience or taking a certain picture just so you can upload it. I am sorry if I am getting sidetracked again, but I thought it might interest you also as I think it is very related.

I think its true to some extent. After reading this I feel our feelings are somehow related to SNS. Good question. But is it a bad phenomenon?

@Dian: I completely agree with your points of view. When you speak of Bem, the concept of self-monitoring also comes to mind. Our attitudes toward ourself are shaped by the attitudes other people hold about us, and we wish to maintain and internalize the impression thus created. SNSs do influence general behaviour, though my query was a subset of this behaviour - experiences you engage in. The analogy to living in a small town is a good one too, because you'd like to project your behaviour in a way that is appealing and trustworthy. So, would you think a simple reinforcement mechanism underlies the grab SNSs have on our lives and experiences?

@Henna: I guess if you begin to get dependent on filling your life with experiences for the sole purpose of showing them to others (and not for the intrinsic satisfaction of the experiences themselves), then yes, I would consider it to be a negative effect

Yes, reinforcement is probably a really important underlying mechanism here too! What is more reinforcing for people than positive attention from others? And self-monitoring, absolutely. Great ideas!

@Hansika: As to your question... Yes, I think that could be a way to assess is. Normally, the uploading and sharing isn't a problem due to the wider and wider spread of the Internet and people's adoption of smartphones. So, it could be an interesting scenario to observe people when they are not able to share, e.g. in the context of an experiment or ethnographic study. Does this result in stress or negative feelings? Does it lead to dissatisfaction? One could measure this with questionnaires or tracking devices.

@Hansika & Dian: Very interesting discussion emerging here!

The process you described, Dian, is a plausible one in many regards and it probably happens that way to some extent. The question then is: How can we investigate it empirically? How widespread and prevalent is it? As for the first question, it's probably very hard to study such a complex process in a proper way and to isolate the behavioral change associated with the process. In a first step, it could be a good idea to explore the field with a qualitative study.

As for the second question, there are a number of confounding factors that make it hard to estimate the prevalence of the process. First, studies have shown that people are very bad at evaluating their audience on SNS because of invisible audiences and algorithmic filtering (which many users are not even aware of). Both factors make inferences about audiences difficult (http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2470658=). Second, even if users have a certain audience in mind and provide a self-image that tries to satisfy this imagined audience (which diverges sharply from the real audience), the process is maybe more incorporated, emotional, sub-conscious or habitual than cognitive. Third, (imagined) audiences are in many cases quite diverse: Friends, family, colleagues and acquantainces might all have different opinions on what's a likeable and cool status update. How can I, as user, provide an image that satisfies the diverse "stakeholders" best?

These points make it difficult to tell how much - and how many - people change their behavior because of self-monitoring on SNS.

I agree with you both that the small town analogy captures many aspects of what's going on on some SNS. Going back to the German sociologist Tönnies we could argue that Facebook and similar SNS resemble "Gemeinschaft"/community more than "Gesellschaft"/society (https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_meaning_of_terms_Gemeinschaft_and_Gesellschaft).

BTW, there is a discussion on a similar topic going on in another thread that might be interesting for some of you. Feel free to check it out here ;) https://www.researchgate.net/post/Do_social_media_make_us_less_individual

@Christoph: Great inputs! Yes, measuring dissatisfaction or distress arising from being unable to share one's experiences may be difficult to assess, so will the audience coverage of SNS media. Nonetheless it'd be an interesting question to answer :) Thanks for the links!

Dear Hansika,

Very interesting question. We have recently done some empirical research in this area examining why people share information on directed social networks (e.g. Twitter). What we have found is that, in contrast with non-directed social networks such as Facebook, users of Twitter do not care so much about social networking in an an traditional, interactive way. They are more motivated by the impulsive desire to instantly and rapidly update their "status" (i.e. broadcasting their experience in semi real-time). We are writing up our study and a paper should come out soon.

Matthew Lee

City University of Hong Kong

Would love a link to the paper when it does come out :)

News in the Southern Hemisphere is dominated by "Neknomination" in the past two days (http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/kiwis-get-into-spirit-neknominate-drinking-craze-video-5799746), which sadly combines social media with our bold drinking culture. Objective self-awareness and social/self-monitoring work well here to explain the phenomenon. But how can these theories be applied to help (or save) those feel compelled to meet such challenge? Well, saying “not to do it” is far from enough.

Dian, your “women on display” article is an excellent read. In you research, did you look at social and cultural influences on women’s self-objectification?

I had no idea about this phenomenon; it seems like a bandwagon effect - but which social media experiences aren't. Thanks for sharing :)

@Alfa: Of course it helps! Thanks :)

Great concept Hansika, please share your findings on RG when you are done.

I would like to add here that SNS craze has forced people to act and feel differently. There was a time when such activities that we do today on facebook, they were considered being cheap and over. But now they are acceptable and everyone likes them. Its the social media oriented society that has made us all a bit show-off.

Thanks Henna. Haven't really started work on this as a project though, it was just a thought :)

Very interesting notion Hansika. However, I think this trend of uploading every experiences has varied consequences. In comparatively more individualistic societies such behavior is considered acceptable but in the collectivist and conservative cultures this phenomenon has wrought some amazing changes. I may be wrong but its as if individuals have split personalities. The outward social self is very reserved and proper in accordance with the norms of traditional society while the FB self (FB being the more commonly used SNS in Pakistan) is very modernized and open. Further, this trend is more common amongst young females as compared to males, perhaps to counter all the strictness and expectations in their lives.

Yes, I agree completely. In fact, in competitive nation (and professions), there would be a similar trend to upload and update LinkedIn profiles and other professional networking platforms. The duality we achieve by having an online presence and an offline life is evident - how many of us would like to put up unflattering pictures of ourselves? We present the best, or hope to present the best, through online profiles. And sometimes, we even try to do things that we think are the best, just to upload the experience.

I raised this question since I was doubting where our motivations lie, when we decide to engage in an experience. Is it the inherent enjoyment of that experience, or is it the joy we get from communicating that experience to others through social media?

I would say the latter.

I think it also has some competative aspects.

The "need" to proove to "friends" that one also has a successfull life, as one gets endless feedback of the mostly positive and exciting experiences of others. (See the so called "Facebook Depression".) I doubt that it is really a pleasure when part of ones social base feels to be actively promoting the own success.

I agree Jacqueline. Further, this competition in the virtual sphere drives us to compete behaviourally to experience more and feel more than our peers - just to prove a point I presume. It turns into an unhealthy pattern of chasing experiences, not for their own sake, but to be able to tell others about.