Serious question, where did the “duck face” originate? I’d assume it started on the internet considering it is the “MySpace pose,” but who was the first face behind this now common expression?
Why in the world don’t we just show our pearly whites and smile for the camera rather than imitating an animal that has a beak?
I’ll admit it, I let the duck face out for a picture every once in a while, no shame in my game. And girls, don’t lie, I know you do, or have done it at least one time in your life. But don’t forget, boys are guilty too, only they’ve somehow evolved it into a masculine pout-like smirk.
We’ll probably never know who that trendsetter was way back in the MySpace era, but I think the reason behind why we continue to pucker up for pictures is obvious. Before computers and smartphones (aka the stone age), mass media told us how to act, dress, etc.
Then computers and cell phones came along. Fast forward a few years and Tom created MySpace, where friends were ranked by your top 8 and just about anything anyone wanted to know about you could be found somewhere in your deep, and surely insightful, “about me and began its influence on people all over the world.
Facebook and Twitter are now the go-to social networking sites, and their influence on our daily lives is even more powerful. Thanks to Smartphone applications and professors’ online homework assignments that somehow always lead to stalking people on Facebook, we are constantly checking our newsfeed.
Speaking of stalking, where is the line drawn when it comes to being flat out creepy? There’s adding friends, adding friends of friends, and then there’s the friend request that might actually be an axe murderer looking for his next victim. You never know.
Also, most people have that “rando” always hitting your inbox with “hey” a million times, or the occasional “wut u doin.” Internet friendships are almost normal now, look at the MTV show, Catfish. It’s established that we don’t have to meet people to be “friends” anymore. A friend request is the new small talk and getting to know someone consists of looking through their pictures to the point at which you know where they vacationed with their family in 2008.
Pictures say a thousand words, tweets consist of 140 characters, and it seems to me that many college students are all about telling everybody through their sites that they are having fun and ready to party.
I get it, going out and having an amazing time with your friends is a good thing, but the status updates about getting wasted 24/7 and “YOLOing” instead of passing your classes really aren’t necessary.
I’ve seen a pretty good amount of people do this and I’m still in confusion as to why people brag about failing. The only reason I can think of why they do this, is to conform to the unspoken rules of social networking that insist that you make your life look as interesting as possible, even if that includes portraying yourself as premature alcoholic.
I asked a friend from another school, in the nicest way possible, why she posts an abundance of pictures of her drinking on the Internet, and she proved my theory to be correct. “Everyone does it, so it seems okay. You want people to look at your pictures and think that you’re a fun person and know how to have a good time.”
No matter what you put on the Internet, someone will always have something to say. Whether it is a condescending remark on a picture or a comment stating why a status regarding an opinion on gun control laws is wrong, people will pull something out of their minds if they have to. Some call this freedom of speech; I call it a false sense of importance behind a computer screen.
I think the biggest influence of social media is put on the girls. And why isn’t a relationship status official unless Facebook says so? This is a sticky situation. It’s completely irrational to be upset about not being Facebook official, but it’s a little bit sketchy if your partner refuses to go public.
So what can you do? I guess you can only hope that you and your partner have a mutual agreement, and if not, you can thank social media for putting you in the grey area.
Facebook can be so lame at times and Twitter is filled with too many sub tweets and both stir up such ridiculous drama, yet I don’t know more than five people who don’t have an account on one of these sites. Because who doesn’t love a never ending picture book with stories about people you know or just might want to know in the future?
I’m sure everyone can agree that telling your own story electronically is just as fun as reading everybody else’s. Unless something greater is created, it’s guaranteed that social media will continue to influence the generations after us.
Until then, I’ll have to put up with my mom’s status updates about her every move and hope that one day she catches on that there are only so many statuses you should post in one hour.
