The Happiness Effect: How Social Media is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost

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Donna Freitas Christian Smith

The Happiness Effect

How Social Media is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost

Donna Freitas, Christian Smith

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Hardback

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English

Oxford University Press
27 January 2017

Cultural studies; Media studies; Social interaction; Sociology; Health & Self-Help

Sexting. Cyberbullying. Narcissism. People-and especially the media-are consumed by fears about the effect of social media on young people. We hear constantly about the dangers that lurk online, and about young people's seemingly pathological desire to share anything and everything about themselves with the entire world.

Donna Freitas has traveled the country, talking to college students about what's really happening on social media. What she finds is that, while we focus on the problems that make headlines, we are ignoring the seemingly mundane, but much more widespread, problems that occur every day. Young people, she shows, feel enormous pressure to look happy all the time - and not just basically content, but blissful, ecstatic, inspiring and successful in their personal, professional, and academic lives - regardless of how they actually feel. Of course, these young adults are not that happy, at least not all of the time, and the constant exposure to the seemingly perfect lives of other people on social media only makes them feel worse.

What's more, far from wanting to share everything about themselves, they are terrified of sharing something that will come back to haunt them later in life. The rise of social media has brought about a dramatic cultural shift: the need to curate a perfect identity online that often has little to do with reality. The consequences, Freitas shows, can be very real.

Drawing on an online survey and in-person interviews with students from thirteen campuses around the U.S, Freitas offers a window into the social media generation and how they use Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter, and other online platforms. She presents fascinating insights about how these people are consciously creating alternate identities for themselves, while also suffering from the belief that the other people they encounter online really are as perfect as their profiles appear.

This is an eye-opening look at the real world of social media today.

By: Donna Freitas, Christian Smith
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 241mm, Width: 168mm, Spine: 32mm
Weight: 624g
ISBN: 9780190239855
ISBN 10: 0190239859
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 27 January 2017
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Foreword Preface Introduction: Masters of Happiness 1) The Importance of Being "Liked" 2) The Professionalization of Facebook 3) My Name is My Brand and My Brand is Happiness! 4) The Selfie Generation 5) Performing for God 6) Virtual Playgrounds 7) An Acceptable Level of Meanness 8) So You Wanna Make that Facebook Official? 9) The Ethics of Sexting 10) My Smartphone and Me 11) Taking a Timeout from the Timeline Conclusion Appendix: Methodology Notes Bibliography Index

Donna Freitas is a Research Associate at the University of Notre Dame's Center for the Study of Religion and Society. A regular contributor to Publishers Weekly, she has also written for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Christianity Today.

Reviews for The Happiness Effect: How Social Media is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost

Ms. Freitas's detailed survey adds substance to her compelling thesis. Her interviews with 184 randomly selected, diverse students from 13 colleges - public and private, selective and less so - covered faith, parents, selfies, sexting and individual social-media histories... Some of her interviews contain real gems. One woman reported being so attached to her phone that, mugged for it on a bus, she pursued the muggers and to get it back gave them $150. * Laura Vanderkam, Wall Street Journal * She [Freitas] limits herself to a single topic - the effect of social media on the lives of college students - that turns out to have myriad dimensions, each of them explored in informative, artfully crafted chapters on selfies and self-image, sex and sexting, public and private identity, and more. * The Gospel Coalition *