Social phobics experience overwhelming anxiety and excessive self-consciousness when in social situations accompanied by fear of humiliation and embarrassment. Whilst it is usual for most people to feel apprehensive about certain social events, such as public speaking, the anxiety experienced by social phobics is so intense that it can literally make sufferers of this condition avoid any social situation.
Social Media and Social Anxiety: Gift or Burden?
Susan Cain: The power of introverts
What happened is we had evolved an agricultural economy to a world of big business.And so suddenly people are moving from small towns to the cities. And instead of working alongside people they've known all their lives, now they are having to prove themselves in a crowd of strangers.So, quite understandably, qualities like magnetism and charisma suddenly come to seem really important. And sure enough, the self-help books change to meet these new needs and they start to have names like "How to Win Friends and Influence People." And they feature as their role models really great salesmen. So that's the world we're living in today. That's our cultural inheritance.
Social or public situations of any kind may induce this disorder which is often expressed as a fear of being the centre of attention, or of others noticing the sufferer’s anxious behaviour.
Social phobia can also be classed as ‘specific social phobia,’ such as when there is social phobia only in specific situations like public speaking. The fear of behaving in an embarrassing or humiliating way can lead to a complete withdrawal from social contact, as well as avoidance of specific social situations such as public toilets, eating out etc. The physical manifestations of this phobia include blushing, shaking and sweating etc
As for literature I cannot think of any readings I have recently read that I could suggest or participate, however I myself, am one subject (or was) to many of the things you've stated, being over-conscious and analytical further adding public speaking into the mix is something I have been trying to over-come. Social media was a way in which I tried to do this and has definitely helped; an article from the guardian provides some implications with this however;
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/04/instagram-young-women-self-esteem-essena-oneill
Related articles explain that because of the heavily focused social media way of life, we are consistently seeking for approval of some kind; followers, retweets, likes, shares, &c.
As I was doing my dissertation I was looking for more people to interview, if you are in need of a participant I would be willing to help out and get involved; I find this discussion highly interesting. How you'd like to conduct the interview is entirely up to you, just message me on here and we can discuss further if you are in need of an interviewee (y). Good luck
I guess the quantity would go up or down, depending on the criteria chosen to define 'phobia,' the method used to evaluate the subjects, and the way the sample population is selected.
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