The Dilemma of Social Web

Being the youngest one in my family, I remember seeing my elder sisters and brothers using chat rooms on Hotmail, yahoo mail accounts. I created my first email id in around 2003 or 2004 and then I created my Orkut account with the help of my school friend. On that, I could upload images, and statuses and chat with friends. Then after a few years, I think around 2010 I jumped to Facebook which was somewhat like Orkut but with more attractive features. And as we all know many social media platforms came after it and I tried to use them as well. But I never thought that these platforms are addictive and it could affect my overall mental health. The day I watched The Social Dilemma on Netflix and started taking my digital citizenship classes, I realized the actual harm that it is doing to our lives.

A Brief Review: The Social Dilemma

This documentary provides a closer look at social media and technology. It is such a powerful and relevant film. It left me with a lot of thoughts… It left me with the things that I never thought are happening just around me and with all of us. After reading this week’s blog prompt I researched more about this film and found a website which illustrates several aspects of this web. There are so many quotes that stuck with me after watching this and some of them are…

“If you’re not paying for the product, then you are the product.”

“There are only two industries that call their customers “users”: illegal drugs and software.”

“Typing…. It is not to save your time but to keep you enagged for longer.”

Social media has the ability to manipulate people’s views, and emotions, and spread misinformation. I appreciate that the people interviewed in the documentary were actual people who played a role in developing these platforms. The Social Dilemma focuses on how social media platforms are manipulating users and they are constantly recording our data and activities. We see mostly those posts, videos, and advertisements in which we are interested. The documentary refers to us as lab rats… as we are constantly being tested and studied. These platforms track our daily activities and provide us with content on which we have spent most of our time. This results in constant engagement of the user and addiction. Overall, after watching this film I was taken aback by the unknown addiction that these platforms have given us. We are constantly trying to entertain ourselves and keep ourselves busy with this. But my question is are we actually being entertained or are we being used by these platforms for their own revenue and benefits?

Negative

Social media is negatively affecting our lives. These negative effects are both physical and mental. Some of the negative impacts of this web are:

• Depression and anxiety
• Cyberbullying
• Unrealistic Expectations
• Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)
• Body Image
• Addiction
• Unhealthy Sleep Patterns

As observed, social media has affected our mental health drastically. These platforms always seem to capture the best of the best of people. Having a good hair day? Post it. On a beautiful holiday somewhere? Post it. Buying something new? Post it. This creates an inferiority complex among the other users, everybody is just trying to post the best parts of their lives. People have started comparing each other based on their posts and social media updates. Moreover, the unending spread of fake news has also affected our lives. Nowadays fake news spreads faster than real news. We need to understand that Facebook is NOT a news platform and anything that has been posted on this platform is not always true/correct.

Positive

Yes, as everything has its positive side as well… Let’s talk about the positive world that social media has tried to offer us. The following are the positive effects of the social web:

• Connectivity with others
• Sharing of Resources
• Creativity
• Learning and Education
• Building Business

Social media helps us to connect with our long-distance friends and family members. These networking sites allow us to communicate easily and effectively. Social media is a great platform to connect with educators and trainers. We can show our creativity or even learn new skills on these platforms. This platform has opened amazing opportunities to showcase our talent and creativity. Now only we can show but I believe we can learn as well.

Is there a correct way of using Social Media?

For me, I think the first step is to learn and spread knowledge about the 9 elements of Digital Citizenship. It teaches the appropriate and responsible use of the internet, computers and digital devices. Teaching digital citizenship helps to ensure that learners think critically, behave safely, participate responsibly, and maintain their health and wellness in the digital world. Teaching digital citizenship and media literacy to our students is the best way to minimize the negative effects of the social web. These will help to create awareness about fake news, mental health, body image, data sharing and privacy etc. Secondly, we should keep in mind the word BALANCE… I believe maintaining a balance between the time that we spend on tech devices versus the time without these devices is important. There can be a time in our day or once a week when we don’t use our phones/internet/tech gadgets at all. I know this is not an easy task but not an impossible one.

To recapitulate, I would like to mention that The Social Dilemma is a good reminder that we need to be aware of these platforms. And not only aware we should also try to understand them and use them appropriately so that we can prevent ourselves from being addicted to these platforms.

— Thank You