August 31st, 2014 was a historical date for many. For Malaysians, it's just another National Day but for many other men worldwide, it was the day their wildest dreams come true. It was a day of joy and euphoria as it was the day where hundreds of celebrity nude photos were leaked. Among some of the celebrities of the list were Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and Kirsten Dunst. This historical event was immortalized as "The Fappening", derived from a mixture of two words, namely "Happening" and "Fap" (to masturbate).
The private photos were obtained through accessing the celebrities' photos via a phishing scheme, where the hacker, identified as Ryan Collins, sent a bunch of official-looking emails to celebrities posing as Apple or Google asking for their iCloud usernames and passwords. From there, he gained access into the world of nudity. ICloud is a cloud storage system, much like Google Drive. So, when celebrities sync their pictures to the cloud, all of the information is there. They don't have to physically hand their phones to the hackers to hack their phone passcodes, but by providing access to their iCloud storage, hackers get the same privilege. After obtaining these pictures, he posted them on online image sharing sites such as 4chan and imgur. And from there onwards, they are shared from one man to another.
Some celebrities came forward and admitted that they did indeed take the photos, but some denied it. Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and Kirsten Dunst were among those who confirmed the pictures, whereas Ariana Grande denied it. Besides pictures, other private information backed up by cloud storage was also stolen, including a list of contacts and phone call logs.
Therefore, this begs the question, how safe is cloud storage? Yes, we all know it is convenient because your phone is probably set to autobackup at 2am every day. And if your phone decides to reformat itself, iCloud/ Google Drive got your back. And the main reason why cloud storage is required by most people is because some phones come with only 16GB of storage, which roughly translates to only 5000 selfies. So, would you risk being exposed to the world as naked as a newborn baby or risk losing all of your precious data accumulated over a couple of years?
References: Redhead, H. (2016, March 16). Guy behind "the fappening". Metro. Retrieved from http://metro.co.uk/2016/03/16/guy-behind-the-fappening-naked-celeb-picture-leak-to-plead-guilty-5756015/ Meet the man behind the leak. (2016, March 16). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35820521/meet-the-man-behind-the-leak-of-celebrity-nude-photos-called-the-fappening
Meet Essena O'Neill, a 19-year-old Australian model who became famous through social media, particularly Instagram. She made headlines in November last year when she announced that she was quitting all forms of the very thing that propelled her to fame-- social media.
Social media was my full time job and took up majority of my life. I would spend eight hours a day photographing, styling, editing, filming, scrolling… Finding people with similar passions was incredible – eating out for free, every little moment could be a perfect candid snap or silly vlog, we’d talk about my nonstop boy problems, and bitch about other youtuber’s/instgaramers that I knew personally. That was my life. Constant shoots, photos, editing and an artificial smile. I am not one bit proud of my actions, if that’s not already clear.I was able to fund travels to Thailand and LA off Youtube payments and paid posts… Of which I deceived and acted like I bought the products of free will.I made a video saying I was going to travel to these places and thousands of people offered their homes to me. The girl I mentioned above that was less known (of which I pushed asides, spoke ill of and was a completely horrible person to) was travelling to LA at the same time. She was talking to all the same people but she didn’t get any invites, even when some that were originally promised.I guess I felt entitled with how everything was just handed to me… I had followers and people wanted to be my friend.Being as caught up and superficial as I was, I chose only the people that were in the same industry as I to stay with – vegan and social media famous. I house hopped for three months. I am firstly extremely grateful for all the hospitality, but the girl they knew was not someone I am proud of, let alone someone I even liked.During this time I became so caught up in pleasing people, getting more success in my career, becoming thinner (fitter was my excuse), dating countless guys at the same time, meeting with lots of different agencies and having proposals for major modelling and YouTube deals. All I talked about was my social media, getting a new fancy car, getting a fancy flat in LA, new cute clothes, my growing followers, brand deals…. This was everything I did and talked about each day.I did shoots most days with everyone I stayed with, giving them all my social media tips, bikini photos, brand deals, cute selifes, perfectly arranged smoothie bowls. I gave lighting, caption and editing tips. It was my life and what I did for fun, not to mention my entire career.This 2D perfect world was my life – it felt like it was my true worth, I somehow convinced myself ‘this is what I owe them for their hospitality… they didn’t host a small instagramer… this is why they want me…’ I know that may sound ridiculous, because it so is.Is that just how it works?I couldn’t help wondering, if I had 500 followers not 500,000+ would I be staying here? If I was a size 16 not a size 6, would they still like me as their friend? If I wasn’t this famous, slim blonde – would I be at this party? At this place? With these people?Would I still walk into a shop and the owner say ‘take everything you want, let’s just do a little shoot out the back for insta yeah?’I don’t blame anyone for my actions or how much I was absorbed by social media, my appearance and this 2D world. It was me, I was being deceitful, I was lost, I was sick and I needed serious help.But of course I didn’t know that at the time. At the time I thought more money, more of these friends, being thinner.. that would solve this internal misery.What’s ironic, during all of this struggle I was getting more and more followers, thinner and thinner, better and more visually appealing pictures… online it looked like I had the perfect life… yet I was so completely lonely and miserable inside. I hid it from everyone. I smiled and laughed in pictures and vlogs. No one knew I had what now is described as social anxiety disorder, depression, body dimorphic… whenever I met someone I instantly thought ‘they hate me’ or ‘they make fun of my videos’ ‘they think I’m stupid’… I felt exhausted trying to keep up this bubbly, funny, happy façade.So at the height of several major proposals with modelling and getting close to signing new agencies in LA I started freaking out – why am I so unhappy? Why do I feel so lonely surrounded by so many people? Why do I hate myself so much? Why do I feel this lost and upset with myself? What is wrong with me?What I saw in LA, especially at social events and how much I changed to please people… shocked my core. The celebrities I met at events – how they use social media and marketing seriously stunned me. The things I saw and heard and was even apart of – hardly many people know. I believe these things should be made public – hence the book.So I started seeing myself in others, hearing horrible things and realising that’s what I say… do… I had a kind of epiphany that may be obvious to many, but at the time this freaked someone who had ‘everything’ out- I realised I didn’t know myself without my looks or social media fame… the young aspiring 14 year old writer was dead to me… I hated who I was. I hated everything about myself.
TL;DR-- O'Neill, through all the success, modeling contracts, fame, and money; claimed that she felt like she was putting on a facade while she was on social media. She always felt the need to impress others with the way she looked; and spent hours making herself look picture-perfect so she could keep up with that false identity. She did not know who her true self was underneath all the makeup and clothes, and she lost herself. There were many times that she starved herself in order to achieve a flat tummy so that it would look good during her photoshoots. She used her friends and family members to capture the perfect angle she would look good in. She became obsessed with how she appeared on social media. In the end, she decided to shut down all her social media accounts and used them instead to promote veganism, a lifestyle she invests her time in.
O'Neill is just one infamous example of social media anxiety disorder (SMAD), a yet-to-be-recognised disorder that is affecting many of us active users of social media. It is usually characterized by a person's obsession with social media interactions and bringing digital devices around everywhere. For O'Neill, consciously putting in immense amounts of effort every single day to maintain a facade for her 500,000 followers on Instagram triggered this anxiety. For the rest of us who do not have that sheer audience number, how can we get SMAD?
A layman's example of SMAD may manifest in you if you find yourself bringing your smartphone everywhere you go, including the bathroom. You may also have SMAD if you develop symptoms of anxiety when people do not interact with what you post; be it a tweet, picture, or status update. Being upset over a drop in followers on social media can also be an indication of SMAD.
Anxiety UK, a non-profit organization committed to helping those suffering from anxiety, in a survey, found that 51% of Internet users claim that social media has changed their lives for the worse-- because when they are not on social media or technology, they become anxious. We all know that the very existence of social media is derived from the human need for interaction-- but what happens when these interactions become addictive, and can trigger psychological problems like anxiety and depression?
A common solution to this problem is what is called "unplug", which is, as its name suggests, unplugging oneself from social media and technology, and instead, focusing efforts into real-life interactions and activities. However, the risk is that it is so easy for us to relapse into our social media addiction-- and in turn, that can re-trigger SMAD. What do you think? Is SMAD a legitimate disorder? If so, would unplugging help? Or is SMAD a disorder that needs to be psychologically treated? Leave your comments below.
References
Anxiety UK study finds technology can increase anxiety (2012). Retrieved from https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/news/for-some-with-anxiety-technology-can-increase-anxiety/
Fitzgerald, B. (2012, July 11). Social media is causing anxiety, study finds. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://huffingtonpost.com
McCluskey, M. (2016, January 5). Essena O'Neill breaks silence on quitting social media. Time Magazine. Retrieved from http://time.com
Spira, J. (2013, January 11). Do you suffer from social media anxiety disorder? Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://huffingtonpost.com
