Valentine’s Day, social media is facing a storm of couple photos!
Showing Valentine’s Day Photos & Showing Love On Social Media And The Psychology Behind It
What is the nature of the relationship between Valentine’s Day and photography.
A couple can spend a gloriously romantic evening complete with the cliched candlelight dinner, and slow dancing. But the memory wouldn’t become real until it was shared on social media, and validated by likes and hearts of friends, acquaintances and strangers.
American writer Susan Sontag in her 1977 book “On Photography” had said, “today, everything exists to end in a photography”.
The expression of love on social media is a year-round phenomenon. But there are a few days when the romantic quotient goes a notch higher than usual. It’s the special occasions – birthdays, anniversaries, and the day of love itself — Valentine’s Day.
The reason people try to showcase their relationships and more so on special days like Valentine’s Day is the “need for acceptance. And the need for people to know that they are in a happy relationship”.
Says psychotherapist Padma Rewari, “Scientifically it’s the hormones such as dopamine and oxytocin which trigger the need for acceptance, popularity and building on self-esteem.”
She explains that in a world dominated by social media, it was natural for people to seek approval for themselves and their relationships through the medium and that there was “no harm” in sharing warm photos of a couple’s time spent together.
Seeking validation through public display of affection is most likely a strategy of the human mind to convince itself that the life that is otherwise full of challenges, is perfect. But Rewari says that it was important for couples to distinguish between the “personal from the public”. It is conspicuous that while a large number of likes and comments on social media can have a positive impact on one’s confidence levels, the lack of virtual adulation can also have an adverse effect.
It was to control the social media-induced anxiety that Instagram came out with an option to hide the number of likes that someone’s post receives.
The photo-sharing application in 2016 had said that it wanted to create a safe space for users who could feel free to post content of their choice without feeling the pressure of receiving an acceptable number of likes on their posts.
Rewari adds, “Today we have multiple social media platforms and these platforms will increase in numbers with time. How are we going to safeguard ourselves emotionally and rely on external sources for solace? It is time to act and reflect.”
A code of conduct and being mindful will help a long way in handling social media in a sensible way, she says.