False Perceptions Created by Social Media in Eggers’ "The Circle" (Essay Sample)

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False Perceptions Created by Social Media, Exposed in Eggers’ The Circle
Many have joked in recent years about social media taking over the world, and one author, in 2013, published a work that brought that concept to life. In Dave Eggers’ already famous work entitled The Circle, a huge technology company (whose name is identical with the book title) takes measures to integrate every person’s information and expose the daily actions of everyone, thus making people more accountable and ultimately making the world safer (at least this is the impression the protagonist is under). The radical book has been provoking thought and questions in people since its debut, and one of the most valuable things it does for readers is expose the truth. Egger’s book The Circle exposes the truth about some of the false perceptions the social media world creates. Examples of these false perceptions include the idea that one can never be alone in a transparent world, the misconception that one will achieve happiness through an online personality (such as the ‘TruYou’), and the false idea that groupthink can be a progressive way of thinking. Dave Eggers’ The Circle and Jordan Kaseteler’s article entitled How Social Media Is Influencing Your Behaviour each highlight the issues that arise from using social media. These both emphasize the detrimental effects of being dependent on others in a social network. British television show Black Mirror demonstrates how social media affects self esteem, as well as a sense of self worth. By looking at all three works, it is easy to infer that neither transparency nor increased social media interactions are the solution to today's problems in the world.
The idea behind The Circle is a kind of utopian world in which everybody is
‘transparent’, or exposed to the rest of the world by means of camera, live feed and social media interaction. On her first day, main character Mae is taught to " get people out there zinging about their great customer service experiences with you, then everyone wins" (Eggers 49). Simple enough, but soon readers will find that “Eggers fictionalizes a company with tentacles in every market, holding over 88% of search, mobile, and free-mail Internet services. Examples include a service named "TruYou,"...” (Beck, et al.). When explaining this concept, the ‘TruYou’ in the book, it is laid out like this: “one account, one identity, one password, one payment system, per person. There were no more passwords, no multiple identities. Your devices knew who you were, and your one identity—the TruYou …” (Eggers 25). The goals of the company known as The Circle were portrayed as being more simplicity, less crime and more feeling connected to the rest of society. Ironically, the readers eventually see, through the perspective of the protagonist, that in fact the opposite of all these goals is achieved. Another proactive argument for the TruYou in the book was that "The era of false identities, identity theft, multiple user names, complicated passwords and payment systems [would be] over" (Eggers 26). While this turned out to be at least, not totally false, the audience finds there is an ulterior motive, as with most interesting fictional plots these days. The audience also would come to see the damaging effects of The Circle's efforts and implementations.
First off, there is plenty of evidence in the protagonist that the TruYou was unhealthy in
many ways. There is no denying that things became more flustered in Mae’s world as she eliminated her privacy and, ultimately, her own, unique identity. She felt more disconnected in more ways than ever before in her life. She went from being a determined, sincere human being who cared about her parents and loved ones, to being an almost stepford-like version of herself for the cameras, refusing certain needs and desires and sacrificing her genuineness for conformity. One source states that the TruYou concept created “a society where all citizens lose their true identities as they seek to maintain, primp, and improve their social media identity” (Ashby). In other words, everyone ended up being fake at the end of the day, thereby losing their actual, true identities. This is precisely how the concept of a 'TruYou' was a way of giving people false hope for a simpler yet much happier way of life, when it actually would separate a person from themselves in addition to all others.
The article “How Social Media Is Influencing Your Behaviour” by Jordan Kaseteler
mentions how "we like to think that we are largely in control of our day-to-day lives, yet most of what we do, from what we eat to who we sleep with, and even the way we feel, is significantly influenced by those around us, and those around them… (Kasteler). The author of the article goes on to explain that even a temporary disconnection [from social media] can lead to emotions like sadness and anger, similar to how people who are addicted to drugs feel over the substance on which they are hooked (Kasteler). This is shared in the book with the constant connections between the characters through the use of social media. Main character Mae mentions the tear in her soul when she is alone for a few hours as she gets private time, revealing the dependence that she has on social media. This represents almost every American adult nowadays; just about all of society is like Mae and dependent on social media to some degree. For some, it is downright obsessive, and the deeper one gets into this black hole of emojis and status updates, ironically, the less