The book
This book is not about “good” versus “bad”, or “delete all social media apps” and “don’t compare yourself to others”, because that won’t work.
Rather, it seeks to uncover what is happening below the surface and what is going on with us and our psychology when we use social media.
The book discusses concepts like social comparison, validation, self-presentation and identity throughout, along with how our minds react to people and information we find on the internet.
Sometimes, the book will even take the contrary stance. It will not just tell the negative and positive sides of social media, but will question them both and ask:
“Why does social media make some people feel good and others feel bad?”
It is not there to provide you with a set of “rules” for what you are allowed and not allowed to do online. It is there to provide you with the information to identify these psychological responses in yourself, to look back on what you see and make better decisions for your own life.
Our mission
We have a complicated relationship with social media: social media is not one-dimensional.
It can foster comparison, a drive for validation and pressure to perform in a certain way. All the while, it can enable us to engage with others, learn something unfamiliar, find communities and express something that may not otherwise have been seen.
This doesn’t ask the question of whether social media is good or bad, but rather:
What is happening to us, and how can we understand that to help us use social media on our own terms?
Who is it for?
This book is addressed to pre-teen and adolescent girls who are starting to explore social media, friendships and their own identity online.
Have you ever done something that made you feel bad about yourself after reading someone else’s post? Why does a like mean so much to others? Or why does it sometimes appear that everyone else is having more fun than you are?
These are the sorts of questions this book will address.