Healthiness of Social Media
Understanding our own self-worth is an extremely important concept to try and understand. What actions are we willing to do to achieve something? Where do we draw the line between what we know we can do and what we can’t? Is there a line? Social media metrics are affecting how we perceive our own self-worth. There are two types of metrics: a vanity metric and an actionable metric. A vanity metric is “all those data points that make us feel good if they go up but don’t help us make decisions.” An actionable metric is a metric that helps us make decisions.
People are sharing their lives on social media every day. Recent statistics show there are 3.03 billion active social media users: nearly one third of the world’s population; that’s a surreal statistic if you think about it. When looking at the most commonly used social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, they all have a button that allows you to like them. If you ask any teenager how many likes they usually get on a post they will be able to tell you within 10 seconds. However, it’s not just teenagers who you can ask this question to. This is because liking a status/photo, and commenting is how we communicate on social media.
There are two ways to look at how this affects our self-worth. First off, social media metrics, specifically the vanity metric, has the ability to negatively affect someone’s life. For example, if I were to post a photo on Instagram and get more than 100 likes, it would make me feel good as it’s not a normal occurrence for myself. More so, the opposite can be said about a low number of likes. If I were to receive only a couple likes on a photo, I would likely question why I received such a low like rating. Some people may question why they didn’t receive so many likes and turn to the people who do and see they are achieving a high number of likes because what they are posting they consider “more exciting” content. This has the ability to suddenly make ourselves feel worse about ourselves because we don’t meet the expectations of society.
Furthermore, we can perceive it as being a good thing. We receive a high number of likes on our posts, which in turn makes us feel better about our lives. We get positive comments on a selfie telling us how good we look, boosting our confidence; these things together build our self-confidence. By people commenting positive things, it makes us feel better about the things we do, building our self-worth. When we respect our-selves, and who we are, we reach out and try new things, we do more.
When we look at the effects of actionable metrics, we see different outcomes. Actionable metrics are tangible, they help us make decisions. In Amanda Todd’s case, these were negative outcomes, ones that could never be changed. For Amanda Todd, social media was a weapon used against her. She was being bullied online as people were posting demeaning comments and sending her hate messages. She even posted a video on YouTube about her story. Her understanding of her own self-worth was damaged so bad she thought no one cared about her and death was the only option for her.
Aside from the darkness of social media metrics, there is some light. For example, an actionable social media metric can get us to try new things or do something we have always wanted to do. If someone were to post a photo of their dream travel spot with the caption, “Would love to be here right now”, and receive a flood of comments telling them they have been there and they think it’s beautiful and worth going, then that person would be more inclined to go. Or if you post of photo of you going on a hike, then receive comments like, “Beautiful place to hike”, and “Good work!” you will be more likely to go back and do it again. It is extremely important to keep a strong understanding of our self-worth.
By extension, these social media metrics change our perception of what we understand as value, it will change what we perceive to be important in life. Social media, and the people on it have the power to change our decisions day in and day out. Because of this, it will also place an importance on different things compared to what used to be on the top of the list. If we see more posts about people goings on hikes or runs and less of people going to the gym, we may perceive outdoor activities holding more value. The can hold true for many different things. The more we see people doing, the better the chances are we will make it more valuable in our life than something else.
Speaking from all this, there are possible societal consequences that may arise from placing a stronger value on the wrong social media metrics. When using social media, you want to be careful what you look at and how you let int influence you. For example, looking at certain celebrities and their lavish lifestyle can do harm to a person. They will want to live a similar, unrealistic life, but may not be able to afford it and put themselves in debt. We may see a post of someone who looks dangerously skinny and we see tons of comments saying things along the lines of. “Wow! Gorgeous”, causing us to lose an unhealthy amount of weight because people in the comments are saying it is Gorgeous.
When using social media, it is important to be cautious about the type of media you are ingesting as it may have the capability to do more harm than good. I feel social media has more power over people’s lives than some may realize, especially the younger generation growing up with social media.
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