READING: SOCIAL MEDIA

One of the greatest pros of social media is how easily and quickly it allows us to connect and
communicate with others, most of the time for free. We can get news in real time, and
message each other instantly. Long gone are the days of having to write letters and we no
longer have to spend money on expensive phone bills just to call each other. Social media
profiles also allow us to represent ourselves and connect to people with similar interests,
which is really useful for dates and also in the job market. People can market themselves to
potential employers who are in turn more easily able to find people on sites like facebook
and linkedin.
One significant con this greater connectivity has is that having everything done through a
screen can risk stopping people from meeting up in person. In the past, before instant
messaging, people would write letters and maybe call their friends, but the focus here was
always about setting up face to face meetings; opponents argue that social media gives
people one more reason not to meet up which can have detrimental effects on our social
skills, as well on our human need to talk to people face to face.
On a more positive note, another advantage of the greater connectivity social media affords
us is that it allows us to inspire others to do things. Major social movements have originated
on social media, like the black lives matter movement and occupy wall street, furthermore
social media can increase voter participation. As well as this crowdfunding sites shared on
social media platforms have generated millions for projects that otherwise would not have
garnered as much. On a smaller scale, people deciding to make positive lifestyle changes like
losing weight can share this on social media platforms, causing a domino effect which
inspires others to make similar lifestyle changes.
On the other hand this can have the inverse effect of making people feel more self conscious
about themselves. This is because Social media allows us to portray the best possible version
of ourselves, which can lead to people comparing themselves to others and setting
ridiculously high standards, which can be very detrimental to mental health. As well as this
the fact that people can portray a version of themselves different to how they actually seem
can incentivise bullies and at worst child predators.
The other thing social media gives us is lots of information. sites like youtube, facebook and
twitter allow people to write posts and share videos to millions of others, furthermore many
people now get the majority of their news from sites like these, which can be accessed in real
time, and stay up to date almost to the second. This arguably results in people being better
informed, sites like youtube are also beneficial to children and adults alike who can use the
site to watch educational videos like the one you’re watching now. more information, that
can be accessed quicker means we are more productive right?
However, you could argue that this excess information leads to the inverse, people becoming
less productive with their time. People end up getting distracted by social media. This isn’t
helped by the fact that sites like facebook and instagram use alogritihims that make you want
to continue scrolling, they are almost addictive. The excess information also arguably
doesn’t broaden people’s horizons, instead it tends to solidify existing divides. Take the
millions of times fake news sites were shared in the run up to the 2016 presidential election.
A stanford university paper that I’ve linked in the description shows how these same sites
continued to be accessed 70 million times a month after the election. Again social media
algorithms do not help in this department.
Sites make money from adverts, so they want you stay on the platform as long as possible so
they can show as many ads to you as possible. To keep you hooked, they show you what you
want, reinforcing pre existing biases leading to this echo chamber like state where people
hear what they want to hear. This point about advertising is also important because although
it allows social media to be free and employ millions of people, to market ads correctly, sites
end up collecting lots of info about us, including our sexual orientation, whether we’re
depressed etc.