The author of The Happiness Effect: How Social Media is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost is a college professor who conducted surveys with undergraduate students to better understand their use of social media. Her findings are interesting: college students are quite careful with social media and, for the most part, carefully curate their profiles so as not to run afoul of future employers. And they are also well aware that social media is a constructed happy place where triumphs are shared and defeats and struggles hidden. That does not mean that they do not suffer as they see their peers’ airbrushed lives. And, of course, they seek more anonymous and fleeting methods of communication so they can really be themselves, not so successful and not so kind, either.
I had two annoyances with the book. One is that the author occasionally tries to generalize her findings to all young people, even when her own results make it clear that college students use social media differently. For instance non-college students, with different job aspirations, seem to use Facebook much more freely to share their entire lives, including wild parties for instance. And she seems to rely entirely on her observations, even when quantitative proof is surely at hand, if she sought it. Still, an interesting view at how sophisticated college students can be with social media. Their parents could learn from their skills.
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