Riste Sofie Käär says social media pressures people to perform

Writer, musician and critic Riste Sofie Käär says social media encourages people to present themselves as better, more beautiful, more capable and more productive than they are. In an interview with Vikerraadio, reported by ERR, she called the pressure to keep striving and become bigger, better and more powerful artificial.

Käär said she would delete social media from the entire world if she could. Because the internet has become so familiar, she finds everything that happens outside it more special and significant.

Käär has published poetry, prose and criticism in cultural magazines including Looming, Vikerkaar and Värske Rõhk, as well as on ERR’s culture portal. She has released three poetry collections and the music album Supipäev, which recently came out on vinyl. Last year, she and her collaborators staged Nälg at Von Krahl Theatre, a production inspired by Salme Masso’s cookbooks. Käär has studied theology and graphic design at university.

She said she listened to Vikerraadio as a child while falling asleep, enjoying programmes such as Müstiline Venemaa and the travel show Kuula rändajat. More recently, she has enjoyed hearing callers share different perspectives, including those of people outside her usual circles.

Käär also values the station’s informative programmes, saying they help her learn. The interviewer noted that a survey found 7,000 weekly Vikerraadio listeners aged 16 to 24, compared with 78,000 listeners aged 50 to 64.