The Social Media Conundrum
Kashmira Nediyedath
FYBA
WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?
“The fourth world war will be bloody ... .in roblox.” said John, an avid gamer in an attempt to make a joke. Social media is a variety of technologies that facilitates the sharing of ideas and information among their users. The ability to share ideas and information at the speed of light was utopian in the beginning, however now that it has become reality, it is inching towards a dystopian world. The quality of content individuals consume and share is downgrading and the conundrum is about the relevance of information being shared as well. In the above case, John shared creative information but it was also inaccurate and irrelevant.
It has become a norm to upload short form content, that are instant attention grabbers. Due to the limited scope of this type of content individuals generally skip including relevant information, context and the process of citing sources. A norm all content creators succumb to is the prioritisation of instant engagement and instant entertainment. No content creator wants to risk their viewer engagement by uploading relevant information that may potentially be boring to their viewers. This phenomena is limiting the power and capabilities of our human brain and also slowing down our cognitive processes by selling cheap instant dopamine. Dopamine is a feel good hormone also linked to the natural reward system of our body and social media offers you dopamine by just scrolling which can be a dangerous illusion to live with. A false sense of accomplishment may defer one from their actual goals.
THE CONFLICT: MIRRORING OF POWER
Social media is reflective of power. The definition of power that mirrors social media is given by Hans Morganthau, “When we speak of power we mean man’s control over the minds and actions of other men.” Today every teenager’s mind is influenced by what they surf through on instagram, youtube, snapchat , be real etc. Right from the language we speak from the tip of our tongue to the type of shoes we wear covering our toes, every single thing, we try to relate it with trends that bombard our 'for you pages'.
This slowly decreases the scope for originality and personality development. Our actions towards others are also somehow negatively affected. For example, Instagram has a feature called ‘close friends story’. Here you can post anything on your story and you get to choose a set number of people who can view it. A friend once uploaded a close friend's story and added just one individual on her close friends list. She did this for the sole purpose of gaining that person’s attention. The desperation in that move alone shows how the concept of effective communication has just been tossed out of the box.
Attention seeking in its vilest forms are being added into this box of social media to the point of overflowing. A horrifying instance would be when on March 27th 2023, 4 teenage boys put a bucket over a middle aged woman shopping with her baby as a tik tok prank, the woman lost her breath and was soon hospitalised as she fainted on the spot. She had battled cancer and was diagnosed with epilepsy that triggered this condition. For these four teenagers to think this would be a fun idea in itself is odd social behaviour. However, this is just one case out of the many. It has become normal to prank people on the streets and upload it online without their consent for an ounce of likes and comments. Individuals who just want to go on with their day as usual fall prey to these pranksters who think they will get applauded for their acts online, and sadly they often do.
A lot of us are mistaking the world online to be the same offline. No, the pranks aren’t as fun as they show it to be. The instagram model doesn’t have flawless skin and a perfect body proportion. The family vloggers you see happy at all times are not perfect. The product you see a youtuber endorse will not make your skin lighter. It is essential to understand and reflect on the above statements.
ONLINE V/S OFFLINE { WHO’S HAPPIER?}
In my biased understanding of the people I am surrounded with, there are individuals who don’t have a starry, shiny online presence however they are the brightest, warmest people to be around. They are not affected by the virus of FOMO and enjoy the moment and place they are currently present in. There are other individuals who have a definite online presence and opinions that they broadcast proudly to the world on screen but in reality don’t have the courage to do the same. There are also individuals like me who try to maintain an equilibrium of online and offline presence. However, I value in person interactions the most. No bond or interaction made online counts for me, you can only know and understand an individual while they are in front of you.
In person social interactions are superior because there’s no mask people wear to hide their true personality, at some point or the other it does break through and when it does, it might be daunting and ugly but it can also be magnificent and therapeutic. People are dynamic, on social media they can just choose to show solely the stable part of their personality.
People might be beautiful inside out but social media can make them feel ugly after multiple comparisons. Once again reiterating the point that the digital world is superficial but it has concrete consequences. The world you see online is fabricated to the point where absurdity starts trending, inhumane activities are what gets you more attention and validation than actual good deeds. Being a good human is replaced with being an ‘interesting enough’ human. The answer to the question 'who is happier?’ is complicated but if we corner the aspect of mental health affected, a report of a study conducted by Riehm et al. (2019) states that adolescents who spend more hours on social media are at a heightened risk for mental health problems, particularly internalised problems. Internalised problems include psychological disorders like depression and anxiety. There are physical difficulties and problems that also arise like headaches, panic attacks, soreness of eyes and hunched backs, however we cannot boil the reason down to just social media. It's a result of using all electronic gadgets. Evaluating through the risk factor aspect alone, the individuals who are offline are significantly happier.
THE SOLUTION:
DELETING ALL YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA……won’t be necessary. However baby steps towards mindfulness could solve the majority of issues. Let’s start thinking on our own, after we see something on our phones, let's take a moment to analyse through the lens of logic, common sense, critical thinking and humanity. Break out of the mould of norms of trending content and stop falling prey to the attention grabbing techniques of content creators. Take on challenges to build a concrete world for yourself. Build on not just your intellectual literacy but your emotional literacy, bond with fellow human beings, bond with yourself, appreciate the beauty of witnessing glowing smiles and ugly sobs in person. That’s what it is to be human, that’s what it is to appreciate human life and life in all its forms.
References
FOX 11 Los Angeles. (2023, March 29). TikTok Bucket prank sends woman to hospital [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4e1kqaj2B8
Haynes, T. (2018, May 1). Dopamine, Smartphones & You: A battle for your time. Science in the News. https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/dopamine-smartphones-battle-time
Riehm, K. E., Feder, K. A., Tormohlen, K. N., Crum, R. M., Young, A., Green, K. M., Pacek, L. R., La Flair, L. N., & Mojtabai, R. (2019). Associations between time spent using social media and internalizing and externalizing problems among US youth. JAMA Psychiatry, 76(12), 1266. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.2325
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