Module 6 Mini-Assignment:Reflection on Ephemeral Narratives
Liu Jinxingqi
I’d like to share a recent Instagram story I saw from an blogger over 40, where she gave a glimpse of her daily life. In one of the photos, the background is a gym, the influencer is wearing headphones, dressed in workout clothes, and sporting a stylish necklace around her neck. She is smiling brightly while taking a selfie and captioned it: “Happy red face, 3-mile walk, 8-mile ride.” I’ve recently been following many middle-aged female bloggers because my mom is already 55 and has just retired. I can sense that she’s increasingly falling into a “midlife crisis” and feels that she has lost her sense of purpose and value. Tiidenberg focuses on women in the same age group as my mother, who resist the dominant narrative that middle-aged women become “invisible” and are merely “caregivers” by showcasing their efforts to maintain a healthy lifestyle and the fashionable aspects of middle-aged women's clothing (Tiidenberg, 2018). Inspired by this study, I have gradually started to pay attention to the narratives of middle-aged women.
From the perspective of the social function of ephemerality, on one hand, the audience voluntarily engages with the content within a limited time due to the perceived risk of missing information, thus intensifying their focus on the related content (Barnea, Meyer, & Nave, 2022). Indeed, although the Instagram stories, reels, and posts of the over-40s blogger I follow are extremely similar in content and style, under the mode of ephemeral narratives, due to the longer duration (sometimes I even watch them twice or more), I tend to notice more details. For example, her outfits, and even her accessories. Under ephemeral narratives, I particularly paid attention to the metallic necklace she was wearing. This shows that, in addition to showcasing her healthy side, she also incorporates fashionable elements. These are details I wouldn’t notice in other posts, because long-term posts are more about visual impact, where I tend to focus on the overall content of the video or image.
On the other hand, the casual and ephemeral nature of short-lived narratives does not reduce social comparisons, whether upward or downward, but instead amplifies such social comparisons (Kim & Kim, 2023). According to Kim’s research, Instagram users who engage with the ephemeral nature of Stories are more likely to compare themselves socially to their peers. Observing others' lifestyles may provoke jealousy and admiration, often leading to upward social comparison (Kim & Kim, 2023). For the audience, especially those who are not part of this group, I (in my 20s) do not experience feelings of jealousy or anxiety. On the contrary, I feel admiration and hope that my life in my 50s can be as vibrant and energetic as the blogger's. However, for someone like my mom (who shares the same identity as the blogger), the anxiety arising from social comparison may be more pronounced. For the blogger, the increased cognitive effort involved in ephemeral posts may make users more cautious about the content they publish (Barnea, Meyer, & Nave, 2022). However, comparing the blogger's posts and stories, I don't find that the style or the body image presented is more crafted. But I believe such refinement is something only the blogger knows. Sometimes when we edit photos, the difference between the edited and unedited versions is hardly noticeable to others, but the person who edited it is fully aware.
In my view, the ephemeral nature of Instagram stories intensifies the poster's concern about their body image. It is often said that first impressions are crucial. We always expect positive evaluations from others, and in interactions with strangers on social media, we tend to showcase our best image to maximize how we are perceived. Although the ephemeral nature of social media eliminates features like likes and comments, which typically provide validation, this uncertainty actually leads us to scrutinize our own image more rigorously, particularly with regard to body image. As Kim stated in her article, time-limited media actually amplifies people's dissatisfaction with their bodies (Kim & Kim, 2023). The transient nature of Stories increases concerns about body image.
References
Barnea, U., Meyer, R. J., & Nave, G. (2022). The effects of content ephemerality on information processing. Journal of Marketing Research, 60(4), 471–487. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222437221131047
Kim, D., & Kim, S. (2023). Social media affordances of ephemerality and permanence: Social comparison, self-esteem, and body image concerns. Social Sciences, 12(2), 87. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12020087
Tiidenberg, K. (2018). Visibly ageing femininities: Women’s visual discourses of being over-40 and over-50 on Instagram. Feminist Media Studies, 18(1), 61–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1409988
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