5 Things that Would Happen if Social Media Disappeared
You never knew you wanted (needed?) it before it existed. Now you can’t imagine life without it. Despite the impact of social media on our society, you can’t help wondering sometimes, “What if (insert favorite social media app here) vanished one day?”
It’s tempting to believe society might go insane from screen time deprivation and most people’s fingers atrophy from lack of exercise scrolling through Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and Snapchat. But things might not be as bad as this doomsday scenario suggests.
- We would have a happier world
Studies suggest that social media users who take a break from their favorite apps report higher levels of life satisfaction, enthusiasm, and decisiveness, and tend to enjoy their lives more. This makes sense because social media inevitably encourages comparison and competition, both of which are proven confidence-killers. Spending too much time on SM channels bolsters the belief that there is always someone out there more talented, more beautiful, or more successful than you. The relentless exposure to other people’s lives creates a feeling of inadequacy that holds people back in all areas of life. Frankly, most of us would be healthier and happier without social media.
2. The dating game would be turned on its head
As we speak, an estimated 50 million Americans are looking for love online. Studies show that meeting online has become one of the most popular ways for American couples to connect. If Tinder, OKCupid, and Match.com were to vanish today, guess how many of us would have to go back to asking people out — in person? Convincing someone to give you a chance on a social network is much easier and rejection doesn’t hurt as much. In real life, the possibility of rejection can lead to awkward conversations and the pressure to come up with a cool pick-up line on the spur of the moment. That kind of pressure can be hard to handle, especially when you’re used to the relative safety of screens. Also, the dating pool would shrink significantly if you had to do it the old-fashioned way.
3. You would have more privacy
Most members of Gen Z have no idea what it’s like to live without social media. And if SM apps were to disappear for good, even older adults might need to relearn the true meaning of private life. It might come as a rude shock that strangers and casual acquaintances don’t care what you have for breakfast or how you’re spending your weekend, but it’s the truth. Nobody cares about your personal details unless it’s a family member, a colleague or a friend. In the absence of social media, people won’t be available 24/7 or easily reached anytime by anyone; your life will be your own. Privacy will bring people closer to those who really care about them.
4. Recruiting job candidates would become harder
Most HR departments and head hunters in the 2020s rely on social media to find potential employees. Companies also use social media to promote their brand, host job listings, reach out to passive job candidates who may be a great fit for a role, research more about potential hires, and have others suggest candidates and tag them through posts. On an individual level, an estimated 500 million employees and job-seekers have their résumés on LinkedIn for anyone to see. All this would change if social media were to disappear. Employers would find it harder to connect with potential talent, while job-seekers without a social media presence, simply wouldn’t exist to recruiters.
5. Kiss goodbye to anonymity
Lots of people use the anonymity of a social media alias to speak their minds. Sometimes they cross a line and behave rudely, aggressively, or even with outright hostility — without having to deal with the consequences of such behavior. Without social media, people would think twice about sounding off quite so freely, maybe think a bit longer before speaking, or not speak at all if they have nothing nice or useful to say. In many cases, the loss of anonymity could be a godsend. No more Facebook rants about how ignorant or inconsiderate your teachers are; no more anonymous Yaks about how your best friend became your worst enemy. In real life, your teachers (like your parents and friends) would rather you approach them to address an issue you have with them. Also, most anonymous gestures that are commonplace online would be considered creepy and inappropriate in real life.
Wrapping Up
A world without social media, hard as it is to imagine, will allow you to connect with and get to know people face-to-face. Your phone will no longer be the first thing you look at in the morning or the last thing at night. When you hang out with friends or take a trip you will feel more there because you don’t have to constantly take pictures to prove you were there. You will live in the moment and relish it all the more because there will be fewer or no pictures and definitely no social media posts to store your memories. This might sound a bit utopian, but maybe we could reclaim the stress-free existence we once had, of being ourselves, rather than trying to fit into multiple readymade molds, a.k.a. social media profiles. The question is, how do we stop scrolling and start living?
