Social media started off so innocently, as a way to connect with friends and family and like-minded individuals. There was Friendster, then Myspace, then Facebook (which now has over 3 billion users). Along came Twitter (now X, with about 600 million monthly active users). There’s Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok. There’s even a YouTube-Twitter-Facebook spinoff exclusively for politicians called YouTwitFace.
What is your view of social media today? Do you use it, avoid it, or something in between?
I jumped on late, used FB and Twitter/X for a few years, then jumped off early. Except for TKZ and a couple other blogs, I’m a social media hermit. Would I sell more books if I were on Insta, et.al.? Yes but the costs outlined below are too high.
It began as a tool to “connect” people, which sounds good on the surface. But at this point, I believe it has now disconnected whole generations that never learned to develop real human connections.
Then it became a tool for cowards and bullies. People could attack others w/o provocation and never suffer consequences for antisocial behavior. Lord of the Flies went on a global scale.
Then purveyors finally admitted it’s a tool to collect data for predatory marketing and other suspicious purposes. Recent developments in AI morphed it into a tool for criminals on an unprecedented scale.
It’s a tool and I am sick of being tooled.
Thanks, Debbie! I nodded and chuckled and the profound truth in your close.
I only scroll Instagram for the funny cat videos. FB is worthless – my feed is filled with people I don’t know and pages I never signed up for. X is too mean. The only thing I spend time on is Pinterest, which isn’t a true social media app, it’s a search engine.
My 21 year old granddaughter regularly talks about how social media has made regular conversation between men and women almost nonexistent.
Except for TKZ, I don’t go to any social media sites. My main writing computer is off-line. My husband spends a lot of time on Facebook and YouTube and honestly, I don’t know how good people can stand the vitriol. I do enjoy the funny stuff he shares; maybe I should give YouTwitFace a try. 😄
We pick our grandchildren up from school and they don’t even look up from their phones. It makes me wonder how they have time for schoolwork.
I view social media through the eyes of the parents and children.
Social media contributes to bullying, sexual harassment, stalking, privacy concerns, bias, and more.
Researching social media lawsuits uncovers the executive decisions that have contributed to suffering, addiction, and even death.
When we learn about the dark side of social media, we’re inspired to prioritize the well-being of children and adults over entertainment and marketing.