Purpose-Driven Social Media: Faraway, So Close
For many years, amateur Nostradamuses have predicted a world of 24–7 connection to the Internet, where people would choose to spend more time online to connect with online friends and share their passions. They would choose to build online communities instead of meeting up in real life.
Well, the prediction of constant time spent online finally came true, but not by choice, thanks to COVID-19. And what a disaster it’s been. It reinforced that technology is a mere vessel that can be manipulated and controlled by those in power and those who do not have society’s best interests in mind. The CEOs of social media companies do not care whether the minutes you spend on their platforms are meaningfully spent as long as they’re spent there versus anywhere else.
During the pandemic, people have been spending more time online, but they’re not making positive decisions and are becoming more emotionally estranged and depressed. It’s no coincidence that the term “doomscrolling” became popular in 2020.
Online engagement in 2020 reinforced what kindergarten teachers have long known about their students. Bringing together people without any guidance or organizing principles leads to disaster.
Studies showed employees were working two more hours a day (three more per day in the US). Those who still had full-time salaried jobs proved loyalty due to dire employment news or witnessing their friends struggle to find employment.
And instead of meeting up with friends after work or going to the gym, people were likely to binge-watch TV or get increasingly agitated or fearful by browsing social media platforms built to harness latent voyeurism and narcissism. It certainly didn’t help that the leader of the free world was also using social media to get angry online.
Nearly half of respondents to an eMarketer survey reported they were spending more time on social media. We’re logging on, but we’re not connecting. A March 2020 study found that teens who were more active on social media were feeling more isolated.
Traditional social media reinforces a binary, zero-sum way of thinking about things: followers, likes, and engagements where there is an unbalanced power dynamic. There is too much incentive to disagree and tear things apart than build together.
If you spent any of your lockdown time watching The Social Dilemma, you understand that spending more time on these platforms does not contribute to optimal health.
The whole thing is exhausting, and the jokes we make only reinforce how disillusioning the current online environment can be day after day.
In short, people are fatigued by the constant demands of technology because of the demands placed on them by their employers or the anger and frustration bred by social media. You can find plenty of people with whom to argue online; much harder to find people with whom you can build something meaningful.
Using technology for the community’s good is something we, at TimeRepublik, have been working on incessantly. The key to social media is community, and the key to community is working together and building meaningful relationships. While TimeRepublik cannot fix your Twitter addiction, it can provide a better way to spend your time online.
It is impossible to doomscroll on TimeRepublik unless you are inclined to be angered by people who are excited to help their fellow humans.
During the pandemic, TimeRepublik members have connected daily to provide and receive help, the true essence of a community. There are numerous examples of how these acts of generosity transpire across the globe.
Stephanie in Italy needed help designing a logo. Jonathan in North Carolina was able to create the perfect logo for her in three hours. He is now using the time he accrued to learn guitar from Leandro in Brazil. And that’s just the formal arrangements. Countless people log in to provide tips and inspiration to their fellow users. Many of these interactions took place in person before COVID, and we look forward to the day it becomes a common occurrence again.
When you need help, you simply ask for it, compensating for someone’s effort through time. Whoever helped you has now accrued time to spend elsewhere on something vital to them. But, more importantly, this initial connection fosters trust, the end goal of TimeRepublik. This is the TimeRepublik “nirvana,” which we believe changes your thinking by introducing you to a new world based on trust, where possibilities expand exponentially.
Many of our members have fulfilling day jobs, but either love what they do so much they want to help others or have a passion beyond what they get paid to do and use TimeRepublik as a way to hone that skill. When you’re able to work on something about which you are passionate, it provides you with a stronger sense of wellbeing than any salaried job could ever do.
And connecting over help on TimeRepublik is a means to a greater end — tapping into a real community filled with support. TimeRepublik is building a positive community where people connect every day to help each other.
This pandemic has unearthed far too many uncomfortable truths — the isolation reinforced by social media, the disinformation plaguing online communities, and the creep of salaried work on the free time of employees.
While the market-based and attention economies will remain a lasting influence on society, there are opportunities for people to use their free time to reach out and connect with those who need help and can help them. It is with that in mind that we created TimeRepublik.
