Online comparisons trap
Skewed social media ‘realism’ causing health issues Bizarre assault in hotel bathroom Siblings guilty of bashing guard
SOCIAL media users are being urged to avoid excessive “upward comparison” to protect themselves from anxiety, discontent and hopelessness sneaking into their lives.
This is the advice from Dr Desirée Kozlowski, a lecturer and researcher in psychology at Southern Cross University.
The university has just been ranked number one in Australia for psychology and was the only institution to be rated above 90 per cent, according to the latest national student feedback survey.
Dr Kozlowski, who has a AN award-winning hairdresser touched a stranger’s genitals and buttocks and filmed him naked while the stranger was in the bathroom with the hairdresser’s mother, a court was told.
Carl David Hildick, 28, of Upper Coomera, was drinking with his mum at Main Beach, celebrating her 50th birthday on December 9, 2018.
They met a 19-year-old man and returned to their hotel room, prosecutor Amelia Baker-Smith told Southport Magistrates Court yesterday.
She said the 19-year-old had been in the bathroom with PhD thesis on social perception, said humans were a social species and social comparison played a role in working out where we fitted into society. However, too much upward comparison on social media could have a detrimental effect on our mental health.
“With social media, we’re exposed to more people doing more great things, or looking fabulous, or owning impressive things, whose kids are having huge successes and so on,” she said.
“That can result in us feeling Hildick’s mother before Hildick (pictured, outside Southport Courthouse) “entered the bathroom a number of times” and touched the victim’s “buttocks and penis”.
The victim was then “recorded” while he “was in the shower, without his permission”.
Ms Baker-Smith said a victim impact statement showed the 19-year-old was “greatly affected” by the events, labelled that we’re missing the mark in some way – that we’re of less value – and that is associated with lower psychological wellbeing.”
Dr Kozlowski said it was important to note that social comparison came in two flavours – upward and downward comparison.
“On the positive side, upward comparison can provide inspiration and examples of how to achieve what we want,” she said. “It’s aspirational but with too much upward comparison, we have things like “more nuisance offending than sexually motivated”.
She asked Magistrate Kerrie O’Callaghan for a sentence to deter like-minded individuals from “touching others without consent”.
Hildick pleaded guilty to recording in breach of privacy and common assault, after a plea deal was struck and a charge of sexual assault was thrown out.
Ms O’Callaghan said Hildick had a “strange way” of protecting his mum and she fined Hildick $1200 for assaulting the “vulnerable” 19-year-old. No conviction was recorded. discontent, anxiety and hopelessness sneaking in.”
The researcher said on social media, achievement was often removed from the effort.
“We might see that photo of a very fit, gorgeous person and despair, thinking, ‘I’ll never look like that’.
“But if we saw that person working out at the gym for hours every day, eating in a highly restricted way, having long sessions at the solarium, and spending 90 minutes in the makeup chair before the photo shoot, we might think, A BRUTAL bashing inside a Gold Coast Subway restaurant began with an airborne kebab and ended with a flurry of punches.
Siblings Blake Douglas Heke, 19, and Brittany Lee Heke, 24, took exception when a security guard turfed them out of Surfers Paradise Beergarden in the early hours of February 23.
The pair from Burleigh Heads came across the guard and his girlfriend at a nearby Subway a short time later.
Brittany Heke (far right) hurled a kebab at the guard, narrowly missing. ‘Who needs that anyway? I’m much better off the way I am’.”
Dr Kozlowski said downward comparison, on the other hand, involved comparing ourselves to others who were less well-off or in a worse situation.
“This can make us feel better about ourselves and can result in feelings of empathy and goodwill,” she said.
“In real life, we’re more likely to be exposed to people who are more and less well-off than ourselves. But social media – with its carefully curated, airbrushed and edited versions of
Blake Heke
(right) approached and pushed the victim, punching him in the face and knocking him to the ground, prosecutor Robert Faulkner told a court.
A Subway worker tried to intervene, but Brittany Heke struck the guard in the head again.
The siblings were pulled away from the guard by a group of their associates.
The Hekes faced Southport reality – skews our exposure toward upward comparison.
“Being aware of this can help us to seek out a more normal balance.
“We might also want to consider how we present ourselves online. There’s a small movement towards acknowledging our struggles and failures, both small and large, in an effort to bring social media representations more into line with the reality of life.”
The researcher said each person had different needs for social reinforcement.
“Some can’t get enough, while others feel overloaded by even short exposure,” she said. Magistrates
Court yesterday, pleading guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm in company, after police examined CCTV footage and tracked them down.
The guard suffered chipped teeth, an 8mm cut, abrasions and bruising.
Magistrate Kerrie O’Callaghan ordered them to serve six months’ probation and pay $600 compensation each. Convictions were not recorded.