5/52: I Live for the Applause

Assigned lyrics:  “I live for the applause.”

-Lady Gaga’s “Applause”

This week’s challenge made me think of social media use and an article I came across not long ago that addressed how much importance teenagers place on the number of likes, comments, follows, favorites, and re-tweets they receive.  A lot.  For many—especially girls—it becomes a competition that can chip away at their self-esteem.  “Likes” are valuable social currency, a form of validation and approval.  If someone doesn’t follow  back, it’s considered rejection.  If a new selfie only garners a handful of likes, it’s likely to be deleted.

Although this particular article and study focused only on teen use of social media, let’s be fair:  plenty of adults are caught up in the numbers game, too.  So, this iPhone image (which I had fun processing in Percolator) is about the idea that in our always-connected society, likes matter (too much).