It's not impossible to be a wallflower

 

It's not impossible to be a wallflower

Social media tends to have this certain impression that bounces from one person to another. For example, what happens to one person may influence others to be exactly like them, and if not,  it will persuade them to buy or get exactly what that person has. It's the influence of the media.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower is one of the movies that gave me a good perspective on anti-socialism and showed me the sides of teenagers and how they are surrounded by many different people. One character in the movie, Charlie, was a very antisocial depressed teenager who did not have many friends going into high school until he met two people who then became very close to him. They called him a wallflower as he was happy with how he was with his personality and did not change for anybody, instead he was accepted to be who he was. Comparing this to social media nowadays, nobody can be called a wallflower, or at least many people. When this movie came out in 2012, it was during a time period when social media was not much of a thing, and when people would post, it would be genuine. As time went on, so did the media, and what is posted now is seen everywhere. What I mean by this is many people are doing paid partnerships for growing or expanded companies, and a new product is being delivered to individual followers in hopes to gain attraction and help the company sell this product. I like to think of social media as a ripple effect, once somebody has something you like, you buy it, others buy it, and the list goes on. 

Going back to being a wallflower, I don't see very original posts as much as I'd like to, but I am a very optimistic person and I like to see change. Many people are always complaining about nobody being original when it comes to media or even their true personalities. Many young teenagers who have seen the movie "The Perks of Being A Wallflower" took the movie to heart because they could relate to Charlie's loneliness, or did they understand the bigger picture? 

Why does media change the way we think? 

In an article, I read by the A&M school of education and human development department, Shed Communications states that social media can affect one's bias. If a person has a set belief system in their mind, they're only likely to pay attention to what they already believe through the media. Heather stated that "social media influences people to take action for or against a cause." If one's social standards and social values are easily affected and influenced by others, is there room for progression? No matter what, a person can always improve themself and if they don't want to, unfortunately, they're in a shit show for a lifetime. 

But why? 

Take the values you grew up with, you were raised to have certain mannerisms, right? growing up with the ones who surrounded you at home, is the base for who you surround yourself with outside. An only child for example might have different values than a person with five different siblings. That can be the same for social media, as for me, I like to watch minimalistic organizing videos because I want to have that type of reality. I know that I want that, and I have to be honest with you, I have gone out of my way to buy some type of organization stuff that was way more expensive than it should've been all because I saw a video on Tik Tok that influenced me to buy it. 

Coming to a realization that society needs to get its head out of the media is like a ticking time bomb. You're either a wallflower who doesn't strive to match others' expectations, or you're one whose easily influenced, and if you are, I am concerned about how your reality will look in the near future. 

If you're a wallflower, embrace it, and if not, maybe one day you will be!

Communications, SEHD, and About SEHD Communications. “Can Social Media Change Our Opinions?” Education and Human Development, 23 Jan. 2023, https://education.tamu.edu/can-social-media-change-our-opinions/.