Essay: Analyzing the Impact of Social Media Status Updates

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of social media status updates, focusing on the arguments presented by Dani Shapiro in her article "A Memoir Is Not a Status Update." The essay examines Shapiro's perspective on the differences between social media posts and the art of memoir writing, highlighting her concerns about the superficiality of online communication compared to the depth required for meaningful self-expression. It explores Shapiro's views on the limitations of platforms like Facebook for sharing personal stories and emphasizes the importance of reflection and silence in the process of creating a memoir. The analysis further evaluates the evolution of social media, and how it influences the way people express themselves. The essay concludes by agreeing with Shapiro's viewpoint, suggesting that social media is not an appropriate platform to express personal memoirs because of the lack of genuine interaction and depth.

Running head: ANALYSIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA STATUS UPDATES
ANALYSIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA STATUS UPDATES
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1ANALYSIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA STATUS UPDATES
“A Memoir is not a Status Update” by Dani Shapiro, is an article based on the
updates of social media statuses. Shapiro in her article conveys her message that “we’re
confusing the small, sorry details—the ones that we post and read every day —for the work
of memoir itself”. Through an argumentative structure, the essay focusses on the critical
analysis of the message that Shapiro conveyed.
Shapiro’s opinions towards the placements of the memoirs have a valid point. As she
proceeds with her writing, she puts a break to her thoughts and explains regarding her being
of a lonely writer and her experiences of a whole range of humanity. The writer explains how
she counsels her students to avoid using social media platforms when sharing a memoir
(Shapiro, 2020). It is true that people wait to feel the pressure of explosions and bursting out
of their feelings, and further, they remain speechless unless it shapes up to an immense urge
of expressing. The significance of her point lies in the fact that social media is not an
appropriate platform to pour down one’s memoirs. This is because there is nothing that
immediately gratifies one’s thoughts and feelings, and that is how Facebook is supposed to be
considered a separate platform and not for sharing memoirs. For Shapiro, the difference lies
between the surface and the depth, between waiting in silence in order to establish one’s
feeling and putting up a quick status that serves to tell people something without investing
spoken words much. Through these insights, Shapiro provides an agreeable and a valid point.
“If social media had been available to me at the time, would I have posted the news
on Facebook?” (Shapiro, 2020). Through her writings, it is noted that how the writer would
find the confinement of a particular space to incubate all things in the time or era of instant
communication and instant reaction. Shapiro, further includes that one appears to think that
she or he has exposed everything in the stream full of statuses on social media, but in reality,
the status provides a mere illusion and very little perspective about that person. It is fine to
confess as it a nature of the art, but as Shapiro, as well as Cohen, points out that at what time

2ANALYSIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA STATUS UPDATES
do people begin to confuse regarding the small and sorry details that are posted and read
almost every day “- for the work of memoir itself”
However, from the critical analysis, it is evaluated that Dani Shapiro pays little merit
to the evolution of social media and the fact that the updated statuses are an outcome of the
impulsive and filtered narrative. The writer does not give importance to the fact that how
these updates magnify the feelings and thoughts of the writers and memoirists.
In conclusion, the writer wants to address that it is not the Facebook where one is
supposed to halt and express what in their mind and share their story. There is no such digital
ground where one can get a likable and satisfying reciprocation. Therefore, through an in-
depth analysis. It is concluded that Shapiro’s points are agreeable.

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References
Shapiro, D. (2020). A Memoir Is Not a Status Update. Retrieved 4 February 2020, from
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/memoir-status-update

4ANALYSIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA STATUS UPDATES
References