I just finished watching ‘The Social Dilemma‘ on Netflix. It is a documentary about the lesser known truth about social media. First of all I myself was in a dilemma whether to watch it or not.
That’s because nothing ever cheered me up about a documentary. Documentaries are hard hitting and no matter how true they are , for me it has always been too much to take in one sitting.
Now I have friends who are fond of documentaries, and I do get my share of recommendations. But when four of your friends want you to watch it and share your opinion, you just can’t ignore it anymore. So I watched ‘The social dilemma’ by Jeff Orlowski, and I was so not ready for this truth about social media that we use everyday. (or almost!)
‘It shook me’ is an understatement. I experienced a lot of emotions ranging from to disbelief to anger. This is what I learnt.
The Truth About Social Media
Technology is already enmeshed in our lives in ways we did not envision. With the coming years, this is only going to increase to higher proportions. How then are we going to tackle the problem of leveraging this software technology to positive and good use?
We start by knowing the actual truth about social media.
1. Social media is manipulative
Now this may seem far fetched to you. All you are doing on social media is scrolling through posts that others are posting, liking or sharing them. So you think you do it of your own volition.
Where is the compulsion here? Where is the manipulation, you think?
Have you really stopped to wonder, are you actually doing the things that you want to do on social media. Look closely!
You are actually watching videos and subscribing to a thought catalog that has already been pre-designed keeping you in mind. Every single thing you do online is tracked. What images/videos you look at and how long?
EVERY. SINGLE. THING.
2. Social approval
The real truth about social media is that it has turned on a false sense of social approval within every one of us.
Through likes, comments and shares.
If you post is appreciated and shared or even becomes viral, your self-esteem goes up and you will extremely happy to think you get the social approval your message deserves.
Imagine you have a really good post that does not garner enough likes or shares or even the minimum recognition you hoped for? How would you feel?
We are all high-wired on what some random person thinks about us and our posts.
3. Alters the consumer behavior
Are you really buying things you need? Or are you investing in it because it is the current trend?
- Did you try Dalgona Coffee at home?
- Did you really need that Buddha mantelpiece that cost you a fortune?
- You think you make your own purchase decisions?
Advertising theory says, if a consumer is exposed to an advertisement 7 times, he subconsciously knows about the product and is more prone to buying the product.
Social media digs deep into the mind and brain of the customer to alter their thinking patterns and making them align with the host’s revenue strategy.
For any company advertising is the major revenue. To satisfy the advertisers, social media is resorting to ways and means that breach their ethical and moral responsibility towards every user.
4. Getting better at accurate prediction
The race between every platform out there lies exactly in this area. That is the bitter truth about social media.
How accurately can I predict my user so that I can show him relevant advertising and make him buy my products?
Artifical Intelligence(AI) was conceived with most of the positives of technology in mind. But what happened in reality was, we were not ready for the flip side of the coin.
- That technology is a double-edged sword.
- That the objective with which this social media was created is not relevant anymore.
The more accurately a platform like Facebook , Twitter , Instagram predicts its user behavior, the more successful it is going to be and every platform out there is fighting tooth and nail for it.
5. Data theft
This is one common problem we all would have heard when wondering about the truth about social media. That these platforms sell their user data to other big firms for hefty sums of money. Think again!
Would they benefit more from that or from selling your attention span to big businesses? Its the latter people!
If you are not buying the product, you are the product.
Through the strategic ad placements, your feed is highly customisable.
6. Addiction
Social media is addictive. As an example, you have a similar group of friends who share similar interests and even live in the same area. Do you think you will all have the same feed on Facebook?
No!
You will have different targeted placements of videos, pictures, advertisements based on what you have seen, did or shared on the social media in the past. There is absolutely no privacy on the internet.
Artificial intelligence can predict what you would like to see, where and how.
This is the scariest part because you know nothing about the intelligence that is used to manipulate you but on the other side, your every swipe, click and share is saved and stored.
That data is used everyday to make you see what these platforms want you to see.
To make you arrive at conclusions that you thought were your own. To fulfill some random commercial interest.
At this point it is not just a mere software that follows instructions. It is artificial intelligence that is way more brilliant – collating, analyzing and distributing data at a scale than you can ever imagine.
Stop to think how many hours are you actually spending on the social media everyday.
Think of what this does to you and your esteem.
7. Low self-esteem
Social media is all about social approval in large scale.
Even when adults are grappling with negativity( fake news especially about this corona pandemic or trolling) , imagine what this would do to teens and pre-teens who are the most highly vulnerable age group to use social media.
Not only do they get to know about a lot of stuff online, it just leads to unnecessary distractions. Not getting enough likes or shares makes them anxious and depressed.
They equate their likes to a sense of belonging in their community and this type of rigidity can adversely impact them psychologically.
8. Fear of missing out (FOMO)
One major pressure point for teens is the peer pressure and another major reason is the fear of missing out.
FOMO is the fear of missing out on something important and exciting.
Add to this the complexity and consequences of fake news, and you have a very potent combination of news that can play on their insecurities.
This leads to worry, depression and anxiety which can even lead to suicide in extreme cases.
The worrying truth about social media is this. Social media plays a strong role in lowering the self-esteem of teens and young adults as of today.
9. Digital Pacifier
Stop using social media as a digital pacifier. Facebook and Twitter know when you are happy, when you are depressed or even when you are lonely. And it sets up its intelligence accordingly. Don’t fall prey for it.
Virtual friendships are not real friendships. The advantage of anonymity is a huge opportunity for miscreants.
Having a thousand friends in Facebook means nothing in real life. It is like being a billionaire on Monopoly.
Don’t be deceived by these virtual lies and beware of the dark truth about social media.
10. Sense of disillusionment
When you see your feeds on social media, it creates a whole new world for you. As you progress, you keep on adding new elements into your world. This virtual world is not similar to any of your friends. It is yours alone. You can easily think that the fake concepts of a vlogger are truer than actual experts in the field because you have only been exposed to the vlogger constantly.
You can see the world as utopia or dystopia depending on your feed.
Do you know how dangerous this is? There is no universal truth to follow if each one has their own set of truths and sticks to them. That the earth is round is a universal truth. But if a group says the earth is flat, and keeps posting so called evidences for it, does it really make the earth flat?
But you will end up thinking the earth is flat and argue for it. You end up believing the reality of the world that is presented to you.
11. Overpowering humaneness
This type of AI identifies human weakness and overpowers it. Look at trolls. It is simple now to say whatever negative things you want to say to a person and get away with it.
This way you have less control over your image that is presented to the world. A good person can be shown in a bad light or a bad person can be shown in a good light. There is no control over what you choose to believe.
There is no concept of humane technology now.
Which brings us to another important issue.
12. Fake News
What is an absolute truth about social media is that a lot of information you access in social media is fake. But you do not know which one is fake. People believe in fake news all the time. It sounds so shocking or convincing that it spreads like wildfire on the internet.
Experts say that fake news travels six times faster than real news on Twitter.
The information ecosystem is full of incorrect information, mostly heresay. People love gossiping too, without any real concern for the society at large or an individual at a personal level. This leads to unnecessary wastage of resources. The fake news about this Corona pandemic has cost a lot of people their lives.
Before you believe and share a news on social media, think twice.
13. Persuasion
Social media has only commercial interests. It wants to generate the maximum possible revenue for the platform as well as the advertiser. This kind of model which is highly persuasive and manipulative is immensely dangerous.
It can effectively make you see and know things you knew nothing about, make you buy product you absolutely do not need.
It acts as a connecting bridge to all like minded people but what if that is a group of negative people? Imagine the havoc that can cause.
Social media can change your behavior without you actually realizing it.
It does not happen immediately or drastically -One thought, one swipe at a time. It happens so gradually and over a long duration that you do not notice how it affects you.
And that kind of change does not stop with a single person. Social media can change the perception of millions of users at the same time which is hugely going to impact their decision making.
This can translate to so many decisions that can literally change the world – The fall of democracy, the rise of militants, rise of deaths due to fake news and what not. This will erode the very fabric of our civilized society.
14. Behavioral Changes
What do you do when you get notifications?
You immediately go to the application and start scrolling. You repeat this after every notification. Did you stop to think how much time that amounts to?
Notifications lure you back to the apps repeatedly.
What do you do when FB sends a signal telling (someone is posting a comment) on a chat?
You wait to see what the other person is typing. Even if it is taking more time than usual.
These are tricks to keep you on the apps for a longer time. It does not benefit you in any way.
15. Sowing mistrust
When we live in a world where no one believes anybody anymore because they think what they say and do is right, it sows mistrust. Your feeds are designed according to your interests. Which means, you will be surrounded by people agreeing with you on most issues.
The people who oppose or differ in their thoughts from you will be eliminated from your suggestions and you will be forced to be swimming in similar circles with similar ideas. In due course you will start to believe that only what you think and stand for is true and the rest are against you.
How to deal with this?
Here are some pointers on how to consciously deal with social media
- Use apps that you really need. Delete the hundreds of apps on your phone that you rarely use but take so much of your space and time.
- Turn off notifications. They are your biggest distraction.
- Don’t watch suggested feed or recommended videos all the time. Break the chain.
- Break away from technology occasionally.
- Go that extra mile to verify the news before you click on share. Beware of fake news.
- Keep kids away from social media. It is too dangerous for them to understand at that age.
- Learn which messages in your feed push your emotional buttons and avoid them.
- Do not bring your devices into your bedroom. Learn digital detox.
After knowing the hidden truth about social media, I’m not plainly asking you to delete your social media accounts.
We are far too deep in that to take such a drastic step.
The next time you use these platforms be mindful of your actions and set a time limit. That way you have full control over what you do and how you do it.
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