Duck Syndrome
People’s desire to be liked, the first impression they will leave on people and their efforts to make all these positive can be examined within the framework of self-presentation. People always prefer to highlight their better and superior aspects. The presentation of good and positive aspects in self-presentations also causes personal psychological problems. Today, along with all these, with the spread of social networks, it has become more encouraged for individuals to idealize their self-presentations in these ways. So what does the Duck Syndrome mean here?
The definition of Duck Syndrome came about by watching ducks swimming in the water. Ducks swimming in water swim very calmly for outsiders. However, when you look under the water, his legs work quickly. Calmness is only on the surface, while underwater there is much more effort to move forward. Experts explain the psychology underlying this situation as follows: no one wants to show their bad sides and failures. You can hide your anxiety and depression symptoms from yourself and others, even if you feel good when you have a high number of “likes / likes” on your social media posts. Likewise, such posts on social media affect the followers negatively, causing them to ask themselves questions such as “Am I just worried or am I a failure?” Social media users, who are producers-consumers, are more likely to face this danger. Because their biggest goal is to take the same pose over and over, capture the best frame and ultimately get the most “likes”. The other problems at that moment, the problems experienced in the moment or in their lives remain in the invisible part of the water.
Personal Incompetence
At Stanford University, “duck syndrome” was defined as “personal inadequacy” in our lives, but when people look at their lives from the outside, they are successful and happy without any effort. In short, “duck syndrome” is the state of pretending to achieve the emotions and achievements they want effortlessly. Today, people who use social media are criticized because they only share their beautiful, successful and happy “moments” on social media. Can we talk about a “duck syndrome” in social media? Unfortunately, the answer to this question would be “yes”.
We can say that social media is a group that each of us uses quite frequently in this age and has a very high usage rate. We all see the shared frames and the point that each of us comes from is similar: We all get lost in the magnificent frames that we think are the others we want to be.
- Your neighbor, who makes all his meals delicious without using any recipe or measure, burned his food many times until it reached that point, and received negative criticism from many people.
• We see all the stages of a family going to a picnic, but we do not see the many points that the mother/father behind that departure did not listen to during the shooting, and the many points that they postponed or ignored in order to shoot.
• That employee, who does everything meticulously and seems quite calm in your workplace, works until the morning to avoid any problems. You do not see this unrelated process.
We can give many such examples. Basically, the main idea we are trying to reach is this; The “invisible part of the iceberg” is that you know the destructions within yourself but cannot feel it for others, although perhaps much more has been experienced. No one’s life is more admirable than a duck’s glide over water. Forcing yourself to try to be like someone else would be the worst injustice you can do to your feet under water.
Thanks for reading…
