The Importance of Individual Self-Fulfillment

 In the newfound age of social media and raging trends across newer generations, I believe that one of the greatest values people can have is a sense of self-fulfillment. Self-fulfillment as described by C. Edwin Baker is when free speech allows individuals free expression and sense of self. With this, it incentivizes people to be more creative and imaginative in work, play, and everyday life. Additionally, it creates a sense of human autonomy and individuality. In todays day and age, self-fulfillment can be threatened but also amplified with social media in numerous ways. 

Social Media plays a detrimental role in the development of self-fulfillment, especially in younger generations such as Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Social Media is run off of trends and algorithm to keep it successful and viewers entertained, and while things that are trending are popular for a reason, in some cases they can take away creativity from viewers. When looking at younger generations, its no surprise to see that many people dress identical, and while this has always existed regardless of generations, the lack of self expression has increased significantly since the social media boom. In an article from the North Texas Daily, the author goes into detail about how newer trend booms can hurt and distort creativity among large populations of viewers.

Additionally, it highlights that even though generations such as Gen X and Gen Alpha may feel creative, they are still limiting themselves to metaphorical boxes within trends. These boxes can include aesthetics and trends such as "clean girl", "cottage core", "Stockholm style", and "indie". The author also goes on to question why our so called creativity must fit in to labeled boxes, and questions weather its even counts as creativity in the first place. While these generations do value diversity more than past generations, it often isn't reflected in social media engagement. 

On the contrary, social media can sometimes play a positive role in creativity and self-fulfillment by introducing others to new ideas activities. For platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, it gives viewers an easy way to watch quick tutorials and get new ideas for their hobbies. This can be done with outfit ideas, cooking tutorials, hair tutorials, and art activities. Social media benefits viewers by giving them  new ideas or new ways to do hobbies, but on the other side of the screen it incentivizes creators to come up with new ideas and show their tips and tricks. I have experienced this in my own time on social media with a variety of different hobbies. For example, in the last six months I have really enjoyed learning how to watercolor paint and use oil pastels to create art all because I watched one TikTok of a girl painting her own birthday cards for her friends birthdays. Without seeing that TikTok, I may have never discovered how much I enjoy painting and discovering different medias within art. While this is just one example, and individual algorithms are completely dependent on the user, there are definitely positives to the connection of social media and creativity.

Ultimately, the practice of individual self-fulfillment should be a priority in todays digital world, and trying to break outside of the box leads to a richer life. When creativity is prioritized people are often happier, better at problem solving and have a greater sense of self as well as being more grounded. This topic is incredibly important to me because of how much I value individuality and self expression. With this, I believe that people should have the ability to express themselves however they wish to do so while understanding the role that social media plays.