Post a picture of your pet and we’ll plant a tree! We are a nation of self-confessed dog lovers; is this a save the planet match made in heaven? To the dismay of millions of users, the post that recently circulated on Instagram turned out not to be fraudulent, but the creation of a group far too small to fulfil the promise of a tree … Continue reading Instagram Campaigns: Do They Actually Work?
This summer was the first occasion we could begin to relax from the pandemic by going out and experiencing social life thanks to eased restrictions. This opportunity comes with many expectations and challenges. During lockdown many people turned to junk food for comfort, sacrificing physical activity with the excuse it would not have mattered this year, or believing there would have been time to make up for the indulgences. The social expectation of displaying a perfect body in summer resulted in many people taking quick fixes to shrink their figure or alter their appearance. Furthermore, going back to normality and enjoying other people’s company can constitute a challenge in itself, inducing people to either search for human contact in potentially unsafe ways, or alternatively remaining inside despite the ease of the government’s measures. Continue reading A True ‘Hot Girl Summer’
Reality, sadly, is not always attractive. Contrary to what television and media may suggest, life is not always on a good day, from the right angle, or with good lighting. We do not always look our best, and the worst part is that we imprint this illusion of perfection onto ourselves and our expectations. Selecting and altering the best photographs. Feeling like we are not doing well if we are not looking good. The endless, vicious comparison of ourselves against those we see on social media and in film. Continue reading The Dangers of Face Changing and Body Morphing Filters on Social Media
Being a woman on the internet is well known for its dangers. As a space where those who identify as women have freedom of expression, more often than not, they become targets of those who might oppose such freedoms. Continue reading How to Cultivate Positive Online Spaces where Women can Support Women
Since her last tour show in 2018, we haven’t really heard much from New Zealand singer-songwriter, Lorde. After deleting much of her social media presence, leaving only two tweets and three Instagram posts, Ella (Lorde’s real name) seemed to disappear off the face of the Earth. That is, bar the email updates she’s been sending over the past couple of years, giving us a glimpse into her life and developments surrounding L3, her upcoming album. Continue reading Lorde’s Life via Email: Remaining Relevant without Social Media
TikTok is a free app that is available on smart phones. As the most downloaded app on the Apple App store, it has taken millions of users by storm since its global release in 2017. The concept of TikTok is simple but obviously very effective. Users have the ability to make their own 15-60 second videos, adding their own videos, choosing songs or sound effects and other special effects to add to their videos. Therefore, this means people can create their own dances, copy others, make comedy or lip-syncing videos. Once the user is happy with their video, they can publish it to their personal TikTok page and share it on other social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram. Once a video is published, other users can like and comment on it and then follow the user. Continue reading TikTok Explained
Say Instagram, and the first things that comes to mind are the influencers, advertisements and ‘perfect’ body aspirations. Yet, there is a new emerging corner that combines our aesthetically obsessed culture with the art of reading: bookstagram. Bookstagram is a relatively recent phenomenon which refers to accounts creating weird and wonderful displays of books they are reading and enjoying surrounded by an assortment of objects such as candles, feathers and the odd cup of artisan coffee. However, is this new facet of Instagram really worth your time? Continue reading Bookstagram: Is There Purpose Behind the Pictures?
In recent decades the exponential growth of communications, digitalisation and social media has meant an expanding digital-scape for the individual to work with. This transition to the presentation of our beings on electronic platforms changes the way in which we view ourselves, our self-worth and how we present ourselves to the world. We are no longer dealing with forging our identities in a solely actualised … Continue reading The Search for Identity in the Digital Age
Social media has become a performative space. It presents a platform that allows us to display a photogenic version of our lives to the world. This perpetuates in the summer as our news feeds become crammed with everyone’s holiday shots, rather than the grim summer jobs that help us afford them. But should we be ashamed of this? Or is it just a natural human … Continue reading Putting your best foot forward or faking it: are we too critical of Instagram’s glamorization of summer?
A succinct read summing up our day & social media. Emma tells us why we should think twice about our actions. Continue reading Think twice before checking your phone
RAZZ 