Andrew Selepak, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Media Production, Management, and Technology lecturer and coordinator of the online master’s program with a specialization in social media, is quoted in “Gen Z Is on a Never-Ending Search for Online Authenticity” posted on the dailybeast.com on Sept. 10.

The article focuses on BeReal, a social media app that asks users to post one completely unfiltered, authentic photo of themselves that is prompted by a pop-up notification at a randomly generated time each day. Users have two minutes to show their mutual friends what they are doing, where they are, and what they look like in that very moment—completely free from any form of curation.

According to Selepak, this experience is a form of “techno narcissism,” which has conditioned users into projecting a highlight reel that calls attention only to the best and most interesting parts of themselves.

“It’s hard to get society, particularly people who have grown up consumed by social media cultivation their whole lives, to stop the projection of this false reality and convince them to post pictures of themselves with bedhead or watching Netflix, even though it’s likely their reality 99% of the time,” said Selepak.

Selepak was also quoted in “Apps That Tell Your Friends’ Locations Are Now a Way of Life” posted on buzzfeednews.com on Sept. 8.

This article focuses on geolocation-sharing tools that ambiently “track” the location of friends and family. They have become so normalized within certain social circles that some people report always knowing where their contacts are.

“These apps, BeReal in particular, have a forced participation aspect,” said Selepak. “It is no longer the format of ‘I’m selectively sharing what I want to,’ but sharing whatever possible. People are putting their trust in an inanimate object rather than other people.”

He adds, “I’ve witnessed it with my 18- to 22-year-old students: unchecked reliance on the technology of phones is destroying interpersonal skills. Without that practice, they struggle to ask, ‘Hey, are we still eating together later?’ instead of wondering why the person hasn’t reached out, going to check where they are and finding them already at a restaurant, and getting mad. We’re now assuming the phone has the perfect GPS location of the person and holds the answer to the reason why.”

Posted: September 14, 2022
Category: Alumni News, College News
Tagged as: Andrew Selepak