Will technology destroy us?
It’s presumptively happened to all of us; we are prompted to create a profile, be it Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TIK TOK or whatever the current social media outlet is at the time. Among many reasons we are persuaded to click the download button.
It may not happen right away but for a lot of us the consequences soon reveal themselves; cyber-bullying, body image issues, inadequacy, lowered self-esteem and even the phenomenon called fear of missing out (FOMO), as well as it being linked to depression and anxiety. These are only some of the potential pitfalls that follow that click.
We live in a digital age and whether we embrace it, despise it, or simply tolerate it, there's no denying its pervasive presence. Amidst the complexity, a growing body of research offers valuable insight to the impact it has on society.
In this article, we will delve into each one in more depth.
Social media often portrays an idealized and unrealistic version of people's lives, magnifying what we want others to see over what we don’t. It is easier to invent an exciting existence or embellish certain aspects of our lives on social platform than in real-life. Research shows that the more time people spend on social platforms, the more they compare themselves socially.
When analyzing others’ social activity, people tend to make comparisons such as, “Did I get as many likes as someone else?” or “Why didn’t this person like my post, but this other person did?” They’re searching for validation on the internet that serves as a replacement for meaningful connection they might otherwise make in real life.
This type of constant, online pressure can lead to feelings of loneliness through the dangerous game of comparison. Unsurprisingly, leaving us with doubts of our own self-worth. Even the amount of likes we receive on a post may trigger queries of validation. Instagram made headlines last year for suppressing like count in an effort to curb the comparisons and hurt feelings associated with attaching popularity to sharing content. But do these efforts combat mental health or is it simply applying band-aid to an open wound.
It puts a distorted view of appearances and body image which even before social media existed was already a demand on its own. Teenage girls especially felt the pressures to look picture perfect and to be accepted, however it appears that it’s becoming a much broader problem as people of all age groups and sexes are now being targeted.
Brunel University of London reports that men may experience a heightened sense of hypermasculinity, where men feel pressure to be muscular and lean and if these standards are not met, may invoke feelings of shame and become self-conscious about their bodies. Men are also targeted more than ever with AI images and spam. Pictures everywhere are being airbrushed more than ever to fit the ideal standard of beauty or what the latest trend is at the time. But even those undergoing the airbrushing do not even meet these standards as they are nearly impossible to achieve. Which begs the question, since when does a body shape become a trend?
Social media has a reinforcing nature. Using it activates the brain’s reward center by releasing dopamine, a “feel-good chemical” linked to pleasurable activities like working out or eating. When you stop and reflect on the platforms, social media is designed to be addictive. It has even gone as far as being compared to gambling; the similarity being that the outcome is unpredictable (endless scrolling for potential reward) and as such, it’s more likely for the behaviour to continue.
Which leads me to the next problematic and relatively new concern: Fear of missing out.
(FoMO) is a unique term introduced in 2004 to describe a phenomenon observed on social networking sites. It has been proven to have negative effects on both our health and productivity levels. British psychologists elaborated and defined it as “pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent”, FoMO is characterized by the desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing. This again goes against everything that is usually natural for human nature and communication. It has also evolved into a problematic attachment to social media.
The only positive faction of social media is challenging our critical thinking. When we view social media, do we have the wisdom enough to decipher between what is real and what is fake? Education has even evolved to combat these issues, developing courses (edX, Learning Tree and JIBC) to teach people critical thinking as it’s more important than ever.
Texting culture has caused many people an elevated level of stress, especially for those who already suffer from anxiety in other areas of their life which can even create extra panic and uncertainty. It isn’t surprising; a study conducted in 2019 revealed that in a year, 2.2 billion texts are sent in America alone and this number is ever increasing.
A condition called Text Anxiety has in effect developed and is increasingly common with people feeling real symptoms like, nausea, raised heartbeat, impulsive phone checking and even jitters.
The main concern is uncertainty; how will the person react to the text, if they even respond at all or will be left on the dreaded, “READ.”
Read receipts can create unrealistic expectations that go against how human communication works. In our world of instant communications, it seems we have come to expect that the general immediacy and access to information afforded to us by our technology, needs to also meet the same level of instant.
The pressure to be constantly available to reply to a text can cause feelings of guilt as well. This also interfere with setting healthy boundaries which can be especially concerning for a person with people-pleasing tendencies since smartphones don’t provide a safe place to distinguish them.
There are ways of coping with said anxiety, realizing that not all text conversations are clear cut as an-in-person discussion (we are missing the depth that visual facial expressions, body language and tone of voice provide) could help to lower the expectations and better prepare before miss understandings occur.
In the age of the smartphone, it seems our mental health has taken a back seat. Anxiety and depression were on the rise the moment smart phones were on the rise, and this was proven during a 2017 study in the journal Clinical Psychological Science.
Furthermore, in the same study there were escalated suicide death rates in more than 500,000 US students in ages 8 to 12. There continue to be several studies that support the finding that your online life is causing real-life depression.
Studies also indicate that one of the many reasons social media may be causing depression is displacement; instead of doing basic need things that the human body requires to feel it’s best, like working out, getting sunlight, reading a book or spending time outside, that time is spent looking at a smartphone or computer or game counsel. Moreover, children of this day and age are spending increasing more time online, talking amongst their online friends over choosing time spent with their friends in person.
The constant stream of notifications and updates can create a sense of urgency, leading to increased anxiety and stress.
Furthermore, the excessive use of smartphones can interfere with sleep, which is crucial for mental health. A 2018 British study tied social media use to decreased, disrupted, and delayed sleep, which is associated with depression, memory loss, and poor academic performance. This is also affecting users’ physical health even more directly. Heavy social media use can lead to a minor decrease for grey matter in the brain, which is responsible for attention control.
In a single day society is being bombarded with information, at times that we seem to be unable to escape. Social media has garnered the attention of global issues that is at our fingertips at any time. The Digital News Report 2021, a reference study, concludes that 6 out of 10 young people get their information from social media which is problematic as often can be false.
While social media can empower self-expression and virtual connections being at the tip of our fingers, we are disclosing more than we ever have and a lot of the time to unknown, public audiences. Social media has dramatically changed notions of privacy and increased risks like; obtaining passwords, sharing information without permission, impersonating, public humiliation, threats, enlisting others to harass, mass surveillance, exposing public information, creating fake profiles such as on Tinder or Facebook.
This also fosters a wide variety of privacy concerns like other forms of cyber harassment such as cyber-bullying, cyber-harassment and cyber-stalking all of which are illegal.
In fact, according to Pew Research, 41% of Americans have experienced some form of online harassment – and the severity of incidents have progressed over time.
The Pew Research report concluded that a significant percentage of Americans who experienced some form of online harassment found the incident distressing.
Research shows that victims can experience severe mental health consequences, including depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and more. Harassment that includes threats can even cause PTSD for victims.
It’s easy to look at these technologies as inherently bad as its potential is huge and nowhere near exhausted. There are scores of examples of persuasive technology built to improve our life; encouraging to work out more, eat better, meditation, managing money, remembering to take medication on time, staying in touch with family and friends. This adds value.
For example, the app Headspace appears all over Facebook and Instagram newsfeeds with 10-second meditations to relieve stress and anxiety. But again, these are ads that are constantly appearing unsolicited in our feeds. Doesn’t that in itself cause annoyance?
I challenge this type of thinking with a question, “would we need all these reminders if technology were not harmful?”
Just like features of time management on social media outlets that prompt us with, “Time to take a break”. We needed to create this feature to combat the negative reality that it can be an addiction.
To answer the question of to what degree has social media affected how we interact as humans, it has so immensely good and bad, and as it continues to evolve, so will our behaviour in response to it. So yes, persuasive technology, namely, social media, is changing how we behave, however it is part of a larger entity.
Technology and social media will continue to change over time, but the bigger question is, as humanity, how will we?
Annex. 1:
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