The Happiness Effect

Book report for MARK9057 Social Media Marketing

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C O N C L U S I O N

The Happiness Effect by Donna Freitas was a real eye-opener for me. It has changed my perspective on social media platforms and has allowed me to view content in a different way.

As mentioned in my first post, I am a social media addict. Becoming so involved in counting likes and followers, I lost my original motive as to why I was posting content. Being so caught up in the online world, I feel as though I lost a little bit of my happiness. This book has helped me take a step back and re-evaluate my social media presence.

Since finishing the book, I have dedicated more ‘offline’ time to myself. Although I still use social media on a daily basis for work and school purposes, I have made a conscious effort to avoid mindless scrolling and obsessive refreshes on my feed. I disconnect for the first hour in the morning and the last hour before the end of the day.

Jealously doesn’t look good on anyone, nor does it help with your overall satisfaction and happiness in life. The Happiness Effect has shown me that I am not alone when it comes to insecurities about myself. Social media has created an incredible pressure to appear perfect and seek constant validation from friends, family, classmates, and strangers that I am liked. It has personally affected my views on my body, appearance, and relationships, which has taken a shot at my self-confidence. Freitas has given me the push to acknowledge the power of the internet and rise above it all.

I have decided to share more content that sparks true happiness in my life, and spend less time on taking ‘the perfect selfie.’

In conclusion, social media will always hold a special place in my heart. I have and will always continuously seek inspiration to create and inspire, and with the help of technology, it has allowed me to do so in more ways than I could have ever imagined. For that, I am incredibly #thankful.

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M Y  N A M E  I S  M Y  B R A N D  &  M Y  B R A N D  I S  H A P P I N E S S

 I’m aware that my name is my brand and I need to cultivate it carefully.

This was a question that was asked to over 727 students by Freitas in her survey for The Happiness Effect. Seventy-nine percent of them answered yes.

Many students mention that their name is their brand, and are constantly reminded that professors and future employers are out there looking at them on social media. Naturally, these young people feel an immense pressure to craft, curate and cultivate a particular online image of themselves.

In Freitas’ survey, she asks students if they feel they need to be curators of a particular image. Gain, another seventy percent answered yes, and another sixteen percent answered yes to a degree.

Students believe that you need to be incredibly careful about what you post. They believe you should only post happy, positive photos. Should someone post something ‘less than happy’ or boycott social media entirely, these students believe it will set off alarms. Even more unimaginable to these students is the fear that it will not set off alarms, and conclude that they really are invisible.

“Like yesterday wasn’t such a good day at all, but my peer mentor helped. So [my post] goes, ‘Thank goodness for peer mentors,’ and then everyone took it as something very positive and happy…So it was just, have the happy moments so that people flourish and think, ‘Oh yes, she’s happy now. Okay, so we won’t have to say anything else.’”

I found this specific chapter fascinating. It appears that all these students understand that what is posted online is carefully crafted and disingenuous, however, they continue to post in this manner to please “their audience.” Throughout The Happiness Effect, students continuously discuss “the real me” versus “the online me.” It is equal parts sad and captivating that this generation exudes so much effort to appear positive/happy to anything that is attached to their name.

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T H E  S E L F I E  G E N E R A T I O N

“Fifty years later, when people look upon this generation and this time period, I’m sure they’re going to dub it “the Selfie Generation.”

The Happiness Effect discusses some of the most noteworthy views of the selfie culture from the eyes of college students. In this chapter, they discuss how they believe that their generation is completely self-obsessed, posting pictures or videos about every single little thing they are doing as if they are trying to prove something to the world and their peers.

Almost half of the students that Freidas interviewed were anti-selfie. Students argued that selfies were part of the reason young people spend their time comparing themselves to other, creating low self-esteem and body image issues.

“We believe the world revolves around us and everyone cares about what we are doing. But the reality is, everyone, is too busy caring about themselves to remember what someone posts for more than an hour or two.”

This chapter also discusses how young people feel as though social media is a woman’s world. Almost all the students agreed that men don’t post as many selfies. One student notes that they believe that if selfies were posted more by guys than girls, we wouldn’t look down on selfie-takers so much. Many students mention the infamous ‘duck face’  and how the expression leads to negative impressions on girls.

“If you see a girl posting with the ‘duck face,’ you’re like, ‘Oh, this girl is very vapid. She’s not very intelligent. She’s superficial. She’s very into how she looks and her clothes.’ And she may be an amazing, great individual, very bubbly, very talkative person. You’re not going to get that from the selfie you just saw. You’re just going to see her as being whatever society has attached to the ‘duck face.’”

I could spend hours discussing “the Selfie Generation.” I do not believe that a selfie is purely destructive, however, most selfies stem from the undying need to receive constant validation from others. There is an insane amount of pressure to fit in, appear flawless, and constantly happy, not only within colleges but through all people active on social media.

“I think that the root of documenting experiences is insecurity. We feel this inherent need to post things that will validate our lives. It’s become this competition of who can go to the coolest places, who can find the coolest things, who can take the best picture of themselves, and it just becomes this very selfish, self-centered culture that I think is taking our society in a wrong direction.”  

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F A C E B O O K  O F F I C I A L

“I don’t want [people] to feel like that is who I am, it defines my whole person. So when you see that [so and so] is in a relationship with some guy, then it defines him...Yes, gay pride...gay, gay, gay, gay all the time. But most people think [being gay] may have a negative influence on work and stuff like that. So I just keep my personal life personal.” 

In The Happiness Effect, Freidas sits down with a college student to discuss his feelings toward posting your sexual orientation on social media. Eddison ends up mentioning that he is gay and would never reveal his sexual orientation on a social platform in fear that it would persuade people’s opinions about him, complicate his family relationships, and affect his success rate in possibly landing a job.

It saddens me to think that there are more young people out there that share the same fears as Eddison when it comes to this subject. 

Although I am heterosexual, I understand Eddison’s point of view on the topic. Unfortunately, the world we live in is made up with an abundance of opinions that we may not always agree with. Posting openly about romantic relationships, gay or heterosexual, can create unwanted attention that people may not ask for or desire. However, with that said, I strongly believe that your sexual orientation should not matter.  Although I do not feel like this would affect my potential career opportunities or family relationships, I have made a decision to not post any information regarding my romantic relationships on social media. I believe that that this type of information should only truly be shared with the people that you are closest to and not the entire world.

Grab a copy of The Happiness Effect here.

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T H E  H A P P I N E S S  E F F E C T

I have to admit, I spend about 70% of my waking hours on social media. Posting, scrolling, commenting, blogging, editing, observing. Had you of asked me two months ago if I thought I was addicted to social media, I would’ve shouted out a big, fat, N-O. Ask me again, after reading The Happiness Effect by Donna Freitas, and I would be the first one to raise my white flag high up in the air.

I am a social media addict.

It was not until I picked this book up, that I acknowledged and understood just how big of a role this new found technology plays in our lives and contributes to our happiness, stress, anxiety and overall satisfaction with life.

The Happiness Effect by Donna Freitas is an incredible, eye-opening book that discusses the elephant in the room: Social media and its effect on a generation to appear perfect at any cost. Freitas conducts over 200 interviews and surveys with students across thirteen college campuses all around North America. This novel discusses what young people are really searching for - true happiness. How do they measure this happiness, you ask? Through the validation of friends, family, peers, and strangers through multiple online platforms. Young people set out to achieve unrealistic goals and set impossible standards to perfect their personal brand image at absolutely any cost.

Coming from someone who has not been able to sit down and finish a book since she purchased her first cell phone (age is just a number, my friends),  I was unable to put this one down. I swapped my daily Instagram and Facebook scrolling during my morning commute into the city for some insights on how technology is shaping an entire generation.

This book is for everyone that has felt a slight bit of excitement (or disappointment) at the number of likes they received on a social media post. It is the perfect read for anyone who has scrolled through their peers' social profiles, filtered a photo, carefully crafted the perfect caption, checked-in on Facebook, or posted something in hopes for a specific person to view it. For anyone that has taken a selfie, kept track of their followers, or spent more time capturing a moment than experiencing it. For anyone who #doesitforthegram, this book is for you.

Grab a copy here