Mind Over Mass Media

Lauren Rehfeldt

Blog Post Mind Over Mass Media

The Social Media Era

Mind over Mass Media is a short piece written by Steven Pinker. He discusses how technology, specifically media, has changed in recent years. He talks about how certain things say it is dumbing us down as a society, but really our knowledge is growing. Media encompasses many aspects and plays some role in everything we are exposed to. One major part of media is social media.

Over the past few years social media has grown exponentially. As of 2013, 1.61 billion use a social networking site such as Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram (Gaudin). It’s expected that by 2017 2.33 billion people will be on social media (Gaudin). That means approximately 31% of the population will be on social media seeing messages geared toward their interests produced by the media world. With that many people using social media, there has to be a downside to this revolution.

Pinker states, “The constant arrival of information can either be distractive or addictive.” People show signs of these two things on social media in all sorts of ways. I’m using it distractively as I write this; I have Facebook and Twitter open in separate tabs for no apparent reason except to have them open while I work. I got distracted earlier and decided to mindlessly scroll through Instagram. Others display addictive behavior towards social media. For example, there are many fan pages on Twitter and Instagram, which are run by people who dedicate their lives to running these pages. They’re constantly tweeting and posting picture to Instagram to increase followers and keep other fans in the loop.

One major example of this is social media “celebrity” Cass Sersemis. She rose to social media fame by posting original pictures on her Tumblr blog and from there people starting following her on her other social media platforms (Huntsdale). She has over 21,000 on each of her social media accounts (Huntsdale). Pinker talks about the true masters of their field are the ones who completely emerse themselves in it, Cass Sersemis is one of those people. This shows addictive social media behavior because it takes a lot of work to gain that many followers and stay that active to keep that many followers.

Like Cass Sersemis, anyone can become a public figure just by having what is deemed an interesting life without even trying. Actually, the most recent example of someone becoming a public figure from nowhere is Alex from Target. After a picture of him doing his job at Target surfaced on Twitter, it spread and kept spreading. #AlexfromTarget trended for at least three days on Twitter, and the kid landed a spot on the Ellen DeGeneres show. What was so special about this 16-year-old doing his job? Nothing, but he had good looks so he was famous for about a week.

Social media is one of the biggest parts of media as a whole, 

without question. It will continue to grow in the years to come and continue to be utilized for 

different things. In the age of social media anyone can be famous just for being themselves and

having what is deemed an interesting life or for being attractive. Social media can be great to keep 

up with what is happening in the world, but as Pinker said, “The solution is not to bemoan technology

but develop strategies of self-control, as we do with every other temptation in life.”

Works Cited

Gaudin, Sharon. "One Out of Seven People Use Social Networks." Computer World. N.p., 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.

Groenfeldt, Tome. "Social Media Has Grown Fast." Forbes. N.p., 22 June 2011. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.

Huntsdale, Justin. "Teenagehood in the Era of Social Media Fame." ABC Illawarra. N.p., 23 Apr. 2014. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.

Pinker, Steven. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2012. Print.

Picture of Cass Sersemis taken from Instagram. Picture of Alex from Target taken from Twitter.