Ever logged on to Facebook and realized that all the ad’s you see are surprisingly accurate to what you enjoy looking at or seeing on the internet? The other day I logged on, and mused over why Facebook was so insightful to my interests, why the site kept showing me things that were uncannily related to topics and issues I had recently been looking at. Obviously, I’m not very technologically savvy, because I decided to muse out loud in the university computer room, a question which was returned with incredulous expressions and the comment: “Cookies of course!”
I must have looked even more confused and lost, or just simply in awe of the internet’s mystical powers, because my peers then delved into an in-depth discussion of this delectably interesting concept called a Cookie.
The discussion prompted a little bit of research.
In essence, one’s online actions and movements can be ‘tracked’ and ‘stored’ as data on your computer and shown as a unique signature to certain advertising companies associated with particular sites. The whole cookie thing has led to something called ‘Behavioural Targeting’. At the centre of this process is something called a “third party cookie” which stores information on your hard drive allowing tracking to take place.[1]
To understand Behavioural Tracking (and how this all ties into mental health and social media), we must first understand the ‘Cookie’.
So first of all, what is a cookie? (Apart from the gooey chocolately goodness kind)
On your computer you have your internet browser (e.g. Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari etc.) then you have the website that you visit e.g. Amazon, Google, E-bay etc. When you visit a site for the first time- it wants to ‘remember you’. So it assigns you an ID number that is contained within a little text file called the cookie. Then, whenever the server sends a webpage back to you, it includes the cookie with it. That ID number lets the site remember the pages you visit, the products in your shopping cart and whatever information you provided such as your username, name, billing address.[1] In your computer, the cookie is linked to the name of the site, so that every time you visit the site- it will recognize you. [1]
Trackers, which are ad networks, follow your movements site to site using something called a third party cookie.[1,2] The third party cookie is installed on your computer and then ‘piggybacks’ off the site you originally visited. The third party cookie and the advertiser then come into play when you visit another site that may be related to the original advertiser.[2] When you visit this second site, the advertiser checks your third party cookie (remember this is stored on your computer- ‘tracking’ your internet movements) and looks for its cookie. Now let’s say they see that you do have their ‘cookie’ (i.e. you have visited a similar site before- your internet footprint per se) what the advertiser will then do is remember that you have visited these sites/pages and automatically display an appropriate ad target to your interests; e.g. derived from your past internet history- together with information the advertiser includes in the type of person they wish to view their advertisement. Now let’s get a bit more specific in terms of social media. On Facebook, the ad’s you see are selected for you based on the pages you like, the profiles you interact with, the stories you comment on and of course the information you share such as personal demographics such as age, gender, geographical location and ethnicity. Facebook uses this information (and COOKIES!) to target particular audiences.[1,3]
Ok, so that’s all pretty interesting…but errr how does this contribute to mental health/illness?
Facebook gets PAID to display ads to specific target audiences, so businesses want to ensure that their ads are displayed to the correct audience and they are engaging with the optimal crowd. [3] Now, businesses are well aware of the dominant and most interactive demographics using social media – adolescents and the young adult population. They are also well aware of the key interests of these populations, such as (and to greatly simply and generalise here) self-image, appearance, social acceptance, popular culture, music and entertainment. This culminates in a selective targeting of often insecure, emotionally vulnerable and ‘malleable’ population; where I use the word ‘malleable’ to refer to the fact that adolescents are undergoing a massive stage of development, psychologically and physically. With their psycho-social and emotional development and concept of self heavily influenced and reliant on their environmental and cultural factors, including the considered social norms, and pressure to attain a certain ‘ideal’ or conform to the in vogue trends and styles. These social pressures are heightened and amplified by this behavioural targeting. To understand this, let’s examine a probable example. Imagine a female adolescent who is slightly insecure about her body shape and subsequently feels envious and upset that her body does not fit the dictated ‘ideal’ set by the media and plastered across the internet in the form of heavily photo-shopped celebrity and model photographs, Instagram pictures, and of course, advertisements. She sees numerous ads on Facebook which all promise a ‘Miracle Cure or Easy- Step Rapid Weight Loss Programs” or “How to get the best Rockin’ Bikini Bod in 12 days!” and even “Look how Jane Doe went from Fat to Fab in 2 weeks! You can too!” This, in addition to a page she recently liked on Bikini Body Secrets registers on the internet, and begins to show her more and more of these ads, fuelling her insecurities and solidifying the idea that she needs to lose weight in order to be accepted by society and admired by friends. Ever been in the situation or witnessed when a friend has uploaded a photo followed by an overwhelming response of Likes and comments that state “OMG, you look so slim and gorgeous”; “Wow, I wish I had your body”; “That dress is soooo stunning on you, you’re so skinny now!”. Imagine our teenage female seeing these comments also, further manifesting in her mind that in order to be considered beautiful and popular or an attractive individual, she must lose weight so that she can gain acceptance and satisfaction/validation. We thus have this detrimental cumulative effect arising from pre-existing insecurities and predisposing psychological factors in the individual, compounded by their socio-cultural influences and heightened again by their online interactions due to behavioural targeting. What happens to our imaginary female teenager? Well, she may go on to become depressed, dissatisfied, discontent and lacking in self-esteem and confidence due to the consistent cues that she is not good enough, her body is inadequate and her genetics undesirable; on the other extreme, she may become immune and desensitized to it, and instead become more confident and accepting of who she is; she may develop an eating disorder in her quest to attain this unrealistic ideal, or she may develop social anxiety stemming from her belief that she will be spurned and rejected from her friends and others because of her appearance.
Males are just as affected, if not more due to these activities and advertisements online. It seems like a rite of passage these days for each teenager to attend a music festival, scantily clad in the most revealing and sexually objectifying clothing (or lack thereof). From my experience, it seems as though people spend more time taking pictures of themselves ‘having a good time’ than they do actually enjoying the music and the energetic atmosphere. There are pages on Facebook dedicated to “Festival’s most Hottest Chicks and D*cks” and numerous photos promoting incredibly ‘ripped’ and muscular men, some of whom their heads appear so out of proportion with their massive defined bodies that it is apparent they are abusing steroids. Sexual objectification is no longer limited to just females, but I am seeing it become a regular concerning occurrence for men too on the internet. Males are encouraged to attain a body-builder’s physique, with those who do applauded and celebrated on social media to the extent that others see it as the ultimate ideal of masculinity. Gym selfies are another prime example. So relating this all back to cookies, and social media and its role….let’s look at one more example.
Now we imagine a 17 year old male, Jim. His friends are all naturally tall and athletic, and most have started to frequent the gym on a daily basis. They all have girlfriends and are envied by the rest of his schoolmates. Jim however, inherited his father’s somewhat smaller stature and is more slightly built than athletic. No matter how hard he trains at school, he doesn’t seem to ‘bulk’ up as much as the other guys. He is regularly teased (in a joking manner of course) by his friends due to his ‘wimpy’ and small build, and is nicknamed “Runty”. Fed up with being the ‘runt’ of the litter, he begins researching exercise and fitness websites, all which promote the masculine body-builder phenotype. He is then shown an advertisement for “Muscle Power Miracle” – a steroid which is easily purchasable online. Jim orders the powder, and joins a gym, where he begins intensive 7-day/week workout sessions.
It takes 2 weeks before someone notices him change. To which he receives positive attention on Facebook including comments congratulating him on his ‘awesome rig’. To Jim, validation and social appreciation is then associated with body-image and steroid abuse. He continues this habit developing an eating disorder himself and functioning problems.
Now consider that the steroids and gym regimen did not work. Jim gets depressed that he cannot attain the desirable body image, and looks for other avenues to increase his acceptance and popularity. He watches as a couple of his mates post videos on social media of them doing ‘Neknominations’ where the individual is challenged to scull an entire alcoholic beverage in one go, somehow out-competing the original nominator. He decides to participate, and his entire beer sculling video is heavily liked and commented on. Jim feels contented that he has been validated in his masculinity and place in his social sphere. He soon becomes dependent on alcohol to both self-medicate his depression and to feel and gain acceptance from his peers. He develops a substance abuse disorder in his early twenties.
Sure, these seem like far-fetched scenarios, but the reality is indeed quite scary.
- Eating disorders are estimated to affect approximately 9% of the population. [4]
- Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa affect between 2% and 4% of the population [4]
- Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS) may account for up to an additional 5% of the population [4]
- Up to 20% of females may have undiagnosed eating disorders [4]
- Most young people know at least one other young person who they think might have an eating disorder [4]
- 84.3% of Australian youth said they know one person who may have an eating disorder [4]
- 62.8% of young people said they know up to five people who may have an eating disorder [4]
In addition, it has been estimated that the average individual is exposed to 400-600 advertisements every day in magazines, on billboards, on television, and in newspapers. 1 in 11 has a direct message about beauty, not even counting the indirect messages. [5] But what’s more scary is that this fact doesn’t even take into account those targeted directly for us, bombarding us online.
Think about the current ‘Thinspiration’ Fad circulating Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter, where girls (and boys) post pictures of borderline or full-blown anorexic models and ‘idols’ as their thinspiration’ to lose weight. They themselves then become the ‘thinspirations’ for their peers. You don’t have to look far before being bombarded by the ‘Thigh Gap’ craze driving teenage girls to unhealthy BMIs in an effort to achieve a space between their thighs when they stand feet together.
Whilst it seems like doom and gloom, the Something Fishy [5] website on Eating Disorders puts it into perspective: “with all of these images, advertisements, and messages seeming counterproductive to a good self-image, and society’s overall acceptance of each person’s different size and shape, they are NOT the reason so many men and women develop an Eating Disorder. These images may not help, and for those already open to the possibility of negative coping mechanisms and/or mental illness, the media may play a small contributing role — but ultimately, if a young man or woman’s life situation, environment, and/or genetics leave them open to an Eating Disorder (or alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, OCD, etc.), they will still end up in the same place regardless of television or magazines. Ultimately it’s important to know that Anorexia, Bulimia and Compulsive Overeating are NOT about weight and food. Rather they are complex disorders where each sufferer is plagued with low self-esteem, an inability to cope with their own emotions and stress, and many underlying issues that have lead them to their disordered eating.” [5]
Whilst there is no definite or defined cause for mental illness, and every individual affected has their own complex multifactorial factors contributing to their illness manifestation, social media is providing an amplification platform where social ideals and concepts of ‘normality’ highlighted. In addition to cookies, advertisement behavioural targeting etc., the most insecure individuals can be quite seriously affected. We need to reconsider how we utilise the internet, how we engage with others and what our comments may ultimately be saying to someone. Perhaps instead of complimenting someone on their weight in a recently posted photograph, focus on say, their dress or eyes…“You look gorgeous in that colour, it really suits your eyes!” Or even better, perhaps we can start encouraging positive comments regardless of photo posting and self-promotion such as: “I really admired your artwork you displayed in the exhibition last week!” or “Just wanted to say how happy I was to see you yesterday- I really enjoyed lunch and talking with you!”
We need to start asking ourselves why we yearn for this consistent validation and admiration over what are in retrospect, incredibly narcissistic self-taken images? Why do we revel in other’s jealousy? Is it the reciprocal feeling of empowerment and success? Have we developed into a society that defines success and self-satisfaction as being the extent to which others yearn to be like us?
Be aware, advocate for positivity, and don’t become a victim to online advertisers, sexual objectification or Social Media dissatisfaction. We are all enough. We are all unique. We all deserve to feel accepted and loved.
References
[1] Live.wsj.com. 2014. How Advertisers Use Internet Cookies to Track You. [online] Available at: http://live.wsj.com/video/how-advertisers-use-internet-cookies-to-track-you/92E525EB-9E4A-4399-817D-8C4E6EF68F93.html#!92E525EB-9E4A-4399-817D-8C4E6EF68F93 [Accessed: 3 Apr 2014].
[2] Allaboutcookies.org. 2014. All About Computer Cookies – Session Cookies, Persistent Cookies,How to Enable/Disable/Manage Cookies. [online] Available at: http://www.allaboutcookies.org/ [Accessed: 3 Apr 2014].
[3] Facebook. 2014. Data Use Policy | Facebook. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/advertising [Accessed: 3 Apr 2014].
[4] Nedc.com.au. 2014. Eating Disorders in Australia. [online] Available at: http://www.nedc.com.au/eating-disorders-in-australia [Accessed: 3 Apr 2014].
[5] Group, C. 2014. Eating Disorders and the Media | Media Influence on Eating Disorders | Anorexia | Bulimia | Eating Disorders | Compulsive Overeating | The Something Fishy Website on Eating Disorders. [online] Available at: http://www.something-fishy.org/cultural/themedia.php [Accessed: 1 Apr 2014].
Generation Wired 