Social Media - Plague of Society or Platform for the Future?

Let's face it - social media has taken over society, whether we like it or not. Since the creation of Six Degrees (the first recognizable social media platform) in 1977, the use of social media in the world has increased exponentially. Within a span of just over 20 years, we went from a world without social media to a world where it's hard to imagine life without it.

With about 2.3 billion active social media users worldwide, you would think that social media would be nothing but good. However, this is not entirely true. While there are many positive aspects, such as ease of communication, there are also many drawbacks, such as cyber bullying. In addition, studies by Harvard University have shown social media use to be addictive, as it lights up the same parts of the brain that are stimulated by addictive drugs. Whether or not you think the benefits of social media outweigh its drawbacks is completely up to you - the extent to which social media has affected our narratives is different for each of us, and therefore we all have different opinions about it.

As for me, social media has played an interesting role in my development. Being a part of generation z, I have grown up with social media and been able to experience its effects firsthand. For the beginning of my life I never had any form of social media, or any technology for that matter. In fifth grade I got my first flip phone which was a big deal for me, but many of my classmates had already had iPhones and social media apps such as Snapchat. For all of middle school and the beginning of high school I firmly believed that social media was bad and that I would never succumb to pressure to get it - that lasted until tenth grade.

Snapchat was the first social media platform I downloaded, and I was very excited to do so. It made keeping in touch with my friends extremely easy and fun. Getting Snapchat also allowed me to embrace my inner country self and show it off to my friends. I would often post stories of the fields or the barn so people could see the lifestyle I live. The first couple of years of having Snapchat were very positive for me because it helped me take pride in who I was.

A couple of years later I was pressured into downloading Instagram. Again, I was initially very excited to get the app. I was one of the few people in my class that did not have Instagram, and I would finally be able to see what I was missing out on. My first post was of the view at the top of my favorite ski slope and it only got 30 likes. Nonetheless, I was ecstatic. The comments and likes were like presents for me. I couldn't wait to see how many I would get and who they would be from. Instagram was also exciting for me because it helped me meet new people. If I found someone with many mutual followers, I would check out there profile and send them a follow request. I met some of my current friends through Instagram.

The use of social media started to become negative once I began college. I started focusing much more on my social media image and became much more obsessed with things such as my following:follower ratio, Snapchat score, and number of likes. Perhaps the biggest issue social media presented was that it interfered with my productivity. I have always been a procrastinator, but social media has made this much worse. I might spend up to an hour on my phone before starting my work without even realizing it. I have, however, developed a method to use social media to enhance my productivity. I'll space "social media breaks" between sets of homework assignments and studying as a means of motivating myself to get work done.

I have also observed the affect of social media on some of my friends. A close high school friend would actually buy followers on Instagram and turned his account to a business profile so he could track his page activity and attract more followers. On the exact opposite extreme, a friend of mine who suffered from depression actually went on a "social media cleanse." She deleted all of their social media for a month and told me it was very rewarding. She said it was difficult at first, but that doing so actually helped raise her self esteem, which I found to be pretty interesting. I guess we see other people on social media and try so hard to prove ourselves to them to that we forget our own self worth. The only person we need to be good enough for is our self, and social media makes us forget this. For this reason, it has had a significant negative impact on mental health. However, it has tried to undo this damage. For example, Suicide Prevention Awareness Month was accompanied by many people sharing their own stories on social media and encouraging people to seek help. Promotions of positive movements such as this on social media has had a positive impact on mental health.

Despite all of its negative qualities, I still think social media is a very powerful resource for society. When used responsibly, it does make society more efficient and does not have negative health consequences. For this reason, I think social media platforms need to do a better job of monitoring its users' content and taking down negative profiles. Currently, people can report negative comments or profiles, but if they could somehow implement a filter to limit negative content before it is even published would help a lot. I also think that schools need to do a better job of intervening in cyber bullying. Teachers should be trained more on how to recognize bullying and there needs to be harsher disciplinary action for students who are doing the bullying. As for adults, companies need to have stricter social media policies as to not let it interfere with their productivity.

So, yes, social media has taken over the globe, and yes, it has created many problems. However, if we are able to optimize it and use it responsibly, I believe social media will be nothing but positive in the future.

Works Cited/Consulted

https://smallbiztrends.com/2013/05/the-complete-history-of-social-media-infographic.html

https://umidigital.co.uk/blog/affect-social-media-society/

https://childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-teenagers/

https://www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/social-media-addiction/