Social Media: A Pending Dilemma Or A Beneficial Resource?
Social media. Created with the intent of connecting people, spreading joy, and invoking awareness. Yet, it has become closely linked with poor mental health, anxiety, and downfall of self-esteem.
Social media’s impact on its users of varied ages is two-sided, with certain detrimental effects being somewhat longer lasting than the benefits. Studies revolving around social media constantly provide us with several statistics about its negative impact on us. Social media is currently used by 77% of the world population. The daily average leisurely screen time for adolescents is over 3 hours. Since 2010, depression and suicide rates among 14–17 year-olds have increased by 60%. However, on the other end of the spectrum, social media is a great source of global news and articles. It can spread awareness on several issues and keep people connected to each other. But if we are presented with all these studies claiming that social media is eroding our mental health, and also viewing the positives of social media, then is social media beneficial or destructive?
The Social Dilemma, a popular Netflix documentary, interviewed several people who were heavily involved during social media’s infancy, including the creator of the Facebook Like button, the core Instagram team, and top engineers of Pinterest, Twitter, and Google. The documentary focused on the severe harm of social networking and revealed social media companies’ use of your personal information in order to increase engagement with their platform.
For most of us, when we use social media, we don’t consider how social media apps are constantly gathering information in the background about what interests us and what disinterests us. Then, they use this information to apply algorithmic tricks, making their platform irresistibly addictive. For example, if you were to watch a Jimmy Kimmel clip on YouTube, you might notice that several videos of Jimmy Kimmel and other Late Night hosts suddenly start to pop up in your recommended section. In this case, YouTube recognizes that you are interested in watching Jimmy Kimmel’s show and is trying to hook you in by inserting other related videos in its recommended section; thereby tempting you to stay engaged with the app longer than you intended to. Suddenly, the five-minute break you decided to take has transformed into a thirty-minute chain of videos.
The documentary emphasized the idea that we are seducing ourselves and feeding our own addictions. While they shed more light on the negative side of social media, they also clarified that most social media platforms were backed with positive intent. The Social Dilemma provoked me to wonder about the juxtaposition of the two sides of social media. On the one hand, social media can be used as a platform to spread awareness about political, environmental, and social issues. It connects people around the world and gives people a chance to share their thoughts and inspire others. On the other hand, social media has also led to body shaming, fear of being left out, and cyberbullying. Anxiety among teenagers has also drastically increased in the past few years. In a way, social media itself is not as dangerous as some studies make it appear, but it requires cautious and responsible behavior by its users. The Social Dilemma definitely succeeded in creating awareness around this issue by advising those who use social media to make themselves aware of the data assets and lack of privacy that comes with social media, and to question the addictive personalized material we may view online.
Regarding my own experiences with social media, for starters, I am not a social media user purely by choice. Maybe you are shocked by this. Maybe you are wondering how I am surviving. Or maybe you can relate to me.
When I was in 4th grade, one of my friends persuaded me to get the app Musical.ly (now Tik Tok). I asked my mom, and she agreed to let me download it, as long as she could monitor it too. This was my first exposure to my own social media account. Initially, I was thrilled at the idea of using Musical.ly. I would spend time making my own videos, watch other people’s videos, and generally enjoyed feeling connected to other people. But my harmless enjoyment of this app quickly derailed. On weekends, I would spend hours and hours watching Musical.lys to the point where I felt sick from looking at a screen for so long. The same friend who had encouraged me to get the app started pressuring me to post a new video every day. Pretty soon, what had started out as a leisurely pastime lost its charm. I stayed on Musical.ly until the beginning of 6th grade, when I finally deleted the app off my phone.
After I deleted Musical.ly, I found myself with a substantial amount of free time, and was able to spend time pursuing other activities. As middle school progressed, the number of kids who didn’t use social media began to dwindle, which made not having social media stand out. Initially, after I deleted Musical.ly, I kept a distance from social media mainly because I was afraid of getting sucked down the rabbit hole of endless screen time and suffocating peer pressure again. As time progressed, I became content with my new usage of free time. Giving myself space to breathe when social media felt stressful ended up being one of the best decisions of my life and led me to make my absence from social media a self-imposed choice.
Now, as a high school freshman, when people hear that I don’t use social media, I typically receive some sympathetic looks or even some weirded-out looks. However, no one is stopping me from using social media. I prefer to stay connected and use my free time in different ways. I also respect the choices other people make around their use of social media. It is important that we all make the right decision for ourselves, whether that means using social media in moderated amounts, abstaining from it for a few days every once in a while, or withdrawing completely.
Social media is a great resource, as long as we use it in a positive way and refuse to get addicted. Using social media in appropriate doses lengthens the benefits and reduces the detrimental effects. Social media is intended to be used for the greater good, but can also be manipulated in its use. As users or non-users, we need to be cautious around our own virtual behavior and take a step back when social media becomes a burden. Putting our own mental health first and refraining from usage when necessary can feel refreshing and can assist us in viewing our current priorities. And remember, social media is neutral — it’s how we use it that matters.
Citations
Heid, Markham. “Depression and Suicide Rates Are Rising Sharply in Young Americans, New Report Says. This May Be One Reason Why.” TIME, 14 Mar. 2019, time.com/5550803/depression-suicide-rates-youth/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2020.
Minow, Nell. “The Social Dilemma.” Roger Ebert, 8 Sept. 2020, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-social-dilemma-movie-review-2020. Accessed 26 Oct. 2020.
Smith, Kit. “126 Amazing Social Media Statistics and Facts.” Brandwatch, 30 Dec. 2019, www.brandwatch.com/blog/amazing-social-media-statistics-and-facts/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2020.
Images:
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/social-media-media-board-networking-1989152/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/apple-applications-apps-cell-phone-607812/
