Social media Fallacies

Discuss the July 2017 Book of the Month, My Trip to Adele by A.I.Alyaseer and R.I.Alyaseer.

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Social media Fallacies

Post by GCamer »

In the story, the couple Yaser and Mariam had created a shell of a perfect family with their happy photos on Facebook despite the reality that their relationship is slowly breaking into pieces.

Nadia, while preparing for their trip, noticed that her son was so immersed in his iPad. She contemplated on how the interactions in social media has "turned truth into fallacy".

Do you think that people are really becoming blinded by the reality and are just creating a better image of themselves for this virtual world? What is your opinion on this topic?
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Post by SilviaP21 »

Of course everyone wants for the others to see only his good parts, his happy moments and amazing adventures. I think it's the human nature.
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Post by gali »

I agree with the poster above. They were aware of the reality, but they wanted to impress others with their "happy life". Sadly, some people become so absorbed in the virtual life, they forget to live.
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Post by Emmaky »

Its all about impression. I doubt any of us would post a bad photo on social media. This in turn gives a false sense of success be it in marriage, finances etc where the world perceives your achievement based on your perfect happy pictures.
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Post by GCamer »

I agree with all of you. I think it is human nature that people would want to impress others with their "perfect life". Unfortunately, people get absorbed in creating that "perfect picture" that they forget to enjoy their lives.

I remember when I spent too much time in taking beautiful shots of my meal while my sister's already enjoying hers. When I was finally satisfied with the photo, the meal wasn't warm anymore so I did not get to enjoy it.

I guess that's just a simple example but there are of course others who would go to extremes and really just pretend for the sake of creating their perfect virtual life.
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Post by Vallen Kale »

Humans love good impressions. Good images. Good feelings. These make them feel good. For some, they satisfy the ego. But for the case of Yaser and Miriam, it is akin to a sort of extension of their effort on trying to save their failing marriage life. I think Yaser and Miriam are not addictive to social media. They are, in some ways, quite conscious of themselves (if not of their own flaws when it comes to managing a couple's life). But yes, their usage of social media in an effort to save their marriage is indeed a great fallacy.

For Waleed (Nadia's son), I think the author is trying to raise awareness of how social media can be a problem for posterity. I'm not sure but it could be possible that the younger generations can be swayed more easily by these 'good impressions' that people are trying so hard to project.
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Post by GCamer »

You have a point. Yaser and Mariam didn't seem addicted to social media. They just used it to hide the real situation of their marriage. I think they were doing it to protect their reputation. And as for Waleed, I also don't think he's posting false photos on social network but, yes, younger generations need to learn how to process information properly online and not easily believe on everything they read and see.
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Post by kislany »

Sadly most people are addicted to social media, and it's more than just trying to show their best faces. Lately it's like trying to live their lives online, show every facet (good or bad) of their lives on Facebook. I have a Fb friend who does her dirty laundry online and it gets tiresome. I really don't care about how many tampons she used last time she got her menses. And sadly she's not the only one...it's a worrisome trend...
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Post by CrescentMoon »

Unfortunately, many people I know are practically living a virtual life right now which is really sad to me. I already feel the disconnect with people in my own life, including friends and classmates. In order to connect to the outer world, people are disconnecting with their present life. I have younger cousins who were constantly on the phone during dinnertime with headphones in, and just in their own little world not interacting with the people around them. Although I agree with other posters in that Yaser and Miriam weren't attention seeking or addicted to social media, but I personally would rather they work on their marriage rather than pretend everything is fine on Facebook.
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Post by njoro_i »

my opinion is that social media has made some people to concentrate on improving the public perspective view rather that family perspective view :(
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Post by GCamer »

I remember seeing a post about a cafe restricting the use of cellphones. I think the notice asked customers to actually socialize and not just sit with their phones on their face.

I also think it's awkward to see friends meeting up at a cafe or even families sitting together for a meal but they're all so quietly just using their phones.
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Post by Gnome »

I feel that social media is this generation's "keeping up with the Joneses." It's not necessarily a new phenomenon but it's now a more advertised one. Back in the day it could easily be restricted to a neighborhood or a sibling rivalry with each person trying to one-up each other. Now everyone is trying to one-up everyone on their account or live up to the standards of celebrity-x or YouTuber-y and show off that they can.

I feel it was more telling that the therapist asked for a happy memory and both Yaser and Mariam immediately turned to their phones rather than talking to each other. They fought over pictures instead of discussing the vacation. Their memories seemed to be tied to what they could prove not the feelings they had for each other.
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Post by GCamer »

Thanks for pointing that out. There seems to be a competition of who has the best life online. Sometimes I become jealous of what others are showing about their life so I just avoid opening my account to remove my negative thoughts.. hehe!

-- 14 Jul 2017, 22:36 --

Like you said, Yaser and Marian's memories seemed to be enclosed in that social media shell that they've created around their real relationship.
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Post by Jeconiaomolo »

Actually people would wish to post good things in the social media. Therefore you concluding from what is in social media to mean someone's happy life is so fallacious. I
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Post by Heidi M Simone »

gali wrote:I agree with the poster above. They were aware of the reality, but they wanted to impress others with their "happy life". Sadly, some people become so absorbed in the virtual life, they forget to live.
Yes, I also agree.

Some people also tend to use social media a place to show just the best part of their lives, because who wants to see or read something sad? Unfortunately, like you said gali, people sometimes forget to live due to this or they tend to not attempt to solve problems because they are become engrossed in making their lives seem perfect.
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