Hello and welcome back to Conversations with Karla! In case you missed it, last week we discussed how the fear of missing out differentiates high school and college. This week, I met with Olivine Harvey, a sixth-semester marketing major, to talk about how social media can make people feel like they’re not doing enough.
Harvey shared that her TikTok algorithm is filled with “Get Ready With Me” and “Day in the Life” videos. We all know the type. They’re videos or slideshows of college-aged students documenting nearly every part of their days from their 4 a.m. wake-up call to their 8 p.m. bedtime. The people creating this kind of content seem to have their lives all figured out with their early-morning workouts, consistent meal preps and admirable academic diligence.
When she first watches these videos, Harvey feels inspired, thinking that if these people can live this way, then so can she. However, she shared that after a while, she feels like she can’t keep up. “I think I watch them because I think [the productive lifestyle] is something I should be doing. Every time I watch [a video] I’m like, ‘I should be this productive, I should be doing this much,’” she said.
Recently, Harvey has seen a shift in social media on this topic. She said that a few creators who document a realistic day in their lives are sprinkled throughout her algorithm. Harvey added that watching that particular content makes her feel better because she knows that not everyone is sustaining the lifestyle they portray on social media. She explained how she knows not everybody is living by a set routine, but when it’s all she sees, it can be hard to differentiate between reality and the social media portrayal. She said that seeing unfiltered realities being promoted on social media helps her know she is not alone in not pursuing a certain lifestyle.
Harvey shared that she has a friend who lives the kind of life depicted in these videos. Harvey described that while this friend does all the things shown in these “Day in the Life” videos, she does not live by them every day. Seeing this duality through her friend helps Harvey realize that what she sees on social media is there for a reason: it’s the small part of life that people want to be seen. Having this friend has helped Harvey differentiate between real life and social media. “She could 100% be producing that content and I know that there’s another 70% of her life that she would not be sharing on social media,” Harvey said.
She also explained how there appear to be two motives behind depicting this “perfect” lifestyle. She said that for the most part, people create this content solely to provide entertainment or motivate other people. However, she said that some videos seem to brag, as if the person documenting their life is trying to say, “I’m a busy college student but I still have time for all of this.”
Harvey said that if these “Get Ready With Me” and “Day in the Life” videos disappeared one day, she would not be upset. “I think it’s so subjective what works for each person,” she said. She explained this by saying how there are some days when she wakes up late and still feels productive because she did everything she needed to get done, and there are other days when she wakes up incredibly early and feels like she did nothing.
That’s all for this week’s Conversations with Karla! See you next week when we’ll meet a new student to discuss a new social media topic.