Postscript

We have seen in this study some of the unfavorable effects in social media. In this
section, it is time to flip the coin and look at the other side of analyzing social media. We can
contemplate some of the positive sides of the social media as an illustration for the people who
can develop their authenticity even in the brokenness of social media, by considering the
presence of social media also as a form of transcendence in the context of its curative instances.
Curative instances in the form of solved crimes, finding of lost relatives, freedom of expression,
creation of genuine relationships, a free therapeutic sessions, and its ability to uncover potential
talents. Other examples for that will be the case of an Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) family.
And the assistance that social media can make for those places that suffer from calamities such
as the experience of some Filipinos who went through the typhoon Ondoy and Yolanda.
Since one of the main advantages of social media is freedom of expression, a fast and open
communication, it was used as an instrument to reach out other people who are in dire need of
help and longing.

That is why the idea of longing can be related to the case of the OFW where the parents
chose to sacrifice leaving their family members in order to provide financial stability and good
life for their love ones. In this case, social media enables a fast and open communication that will
lead to a regular contact of these OFWs for their love ones that they left behind. In addition to
that, social media can also give a sense of community since some people uses it as a means to
help and do good deeds to others. Just as in the situation during the Typhoon Ondoy, wherein
the affected residents were able to reach for help even with the lack of phone network signals
because one of the communications utilized was Facebook. The transcendence in this context,
then, is intersubjectivity at work, where the inner values of care went beyond the empirical but
took place virtually.

No matter where we are, social media can help us to become in touch with the world.
Having a freedom of expression reduces barriers in communication. And as a form of curative
instances, it can provide us a freedom of expression that will allow us to create a genuine
relationship with each other online. It cannot be denied that there are rare love stories that started
out in social media. A genuine relationship when it becomes possible can create a participative
community. In like manner, there are also circumstances that social media is able to act as a
medium for a free therapeutic sessions through community forums. It can also uncover potential
talents that would empower the big changes to the life of the person by just becoming
interconnected and in touch with the world through social media.

With this in mind, social media is gradually taking a massive part of our lives which also
means that our way of developing our authenticities might also happen in social media. Even
though this study argues that social media is not enough in developing our authenticity because
of the phenomenon of objectification, the researcher did not imply that it cannot be possible.
This means that authenticity is possible in social media whereby people can develop their

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authenticity but there are circumstances that would hinder its development and that will render
why it is not enough to just wholly rely on it.

Moreover, Gabriel Marcel wanted a kind of intersubjectivity that requires a face to face or
a personal physical body contact. And that would expose one of the weaknesses of social media
because it exists virtually, a personal body contact with the other is impossible. However, even if
there is no existential fulcrum, a critical analysis within the people engage in social media still
exists. Notably, those people who were able to find their being in the virtual world while
having seeing the real world only implicates how social media is slowly becoming an
important part of a modern human beings lives. That is why the actual appropriation of Marcels
teachings in contemporary problems concerning the use of social media should be faithful to the
very language of social media itself. In other words, Marcel would have to compromise without
leaving all his concepts that exposes us in analyzing our existence as a being in the world.
However, his secondary reflection will always remain alive and kicking even with the exposure
in social media if we are to recognize being available to others and at the same time being able to
critically reflect the society. Overall, we can develop inner cohesion of our being by flipping the
coin that represents the role of social media in life today simultaneously. For social media as a
product of technological progress will always remain a double-edged sword in developing or
hindering our engagement with our being.

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Definition of Terms:

Facebook- is a social networking website that allows the person who uses it to become a
spectator that participates without really participating. It can also become a place where its
individual user can show his/her reality as an incarnate being or pretend to be someone else. It
often lets its individual users to upload photos, videos and post statements that concede on the
circumstances of make-believe self presentations.

Hashtag- refers to a label often use in social networking sites such as Twitter where the user
can provide a specific theme or content relating to his/her current status in life. It can aid in
implying a powerful use of images in deceiving or portraying ones identity representation.

Instagram- is a social networking website that allows the person to share various photos that
would represent the current state of his/her life. It is also where the life of an individual is
summarized with his/her every post of particular images and statements online. Like Facebook, it
can also become an instrument in portraying or deceiving ones self- representation.

Online Identity- is the representation of the person in the virtual reality or in social media that is
vulnerable for objectification.

SNS- stands for Social Networking Sites. SNS encourages people to share and archive their
everyday life online. This creates a representation of a certain person online which made him/her
also presents his/her social identity that made him/her vulnerable to objectification. It can
promote self-disclosure to the person in developing his representational identity.

Social Media- refers to the rise of the web and mobile technologies that need users to create and
circulate contents in social networks. It also attributes to the Internet-based and mobile services
which allow the users to participate in online exchanges or joined online communities, including
Blogs, Wikis, Social Bookmarking, Social Networking Sites, Status-Update Services, Virtual
world content and Media-sharing sites. It promotes active involvement to its users, specification
and representation to the person engaged in it. It also encourages self-disclosure to the person in
developing his/her representational identity. It is also grounded on the problem, the problem of
having and mostly to a primary reflection.

Twitter- is a social networking website that allows its members to post statements and status
updates that expresses his/her feelings at any given circumstances. It often uses hashtag to
categorize their posts into specific themes and content that would portray the persons self-
representation online.

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(Parrack 2012)

Bibliography
Parrack, Dave. The Positive Impact Of Social Networking Sites On Society [Opinion]. 19 April, 2012.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/positive-impact-social-networking-sites-society-opinion/ (accessed
May 8, 2016).