#socialmedia #socials #instagram #facebook
Social Media Dilemma
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The quote above is taken from a 1946 telegram[1] sent from Dr. Albert Einstein to several hundred prominent Americans asking them for funds to produce an nationwide campaign to educate people on how we much change our thinking as we enter the atomic age. In August of the previous year, the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing over 200,000 people.
What Einstein is saying here is that when we are faced with problems or issues, we cannot hope to solve them with the same level of thinking used to create them. Of course he is referring to the threat of total nuclear destruction. It seems somewhat odd to use this in the context of social media, but after all, social media has probably killed more than 200,000 people at this point.
This blog post is a short essay into the problems I see with social media for my own use, and hopes to alter my thinking in order to help overcome them.
My Dilemma
As of writing, I've not used the main social media apps for nearly 100 days. Thats not a short amount of time, but compared to usage statistics is fairly remarkable. My reasons for this hiatus are simply due the dire state of social media these days. Here are the things which pushed me away:
- Genuine interaction is very rare. Most people are just out to get more engagement themselves.
- Advertising has become unbearable. The volume of adverts ruins the experience.
- Negative content is rife. I recall seeing something on social media, daily, that made me angry or sad, or otherwise caused negative emotions.
- False information. We've just witnessed how quickly false information can spread and it is everywhere. It's not always dangerous but is often just frustrating.
- Short form video content. TikTok sparked a change in how people consume content by tapping into primal mechanisms in the brain. This hurt social media for users but opened a gold mine for advertisers.
Of course, there are advantages to using social media. It is, after all, a great tool when used correctly. However, as I sit thinking about social media, I can't help but wonder how I can overcome the issues that I face with social media. As you will see below, I would like to be able to use it, but I'm not willing to do so at my own detriment.
Below I'm going to dive into the thoughts going on in my head on this topic, and see if I can alter the way I think about this problem to solve the issues I'm facing. I do wonder what Einstein would make of all this?
Real Friends
I'm proud of the effort I put into seeing people in real life, having real world conversations, and spending time with people. I think I do well in this regard and don't feel this is something hindered by social media.
The Problem: What I am noticing is that while engagement on social media is often fake, there are those real friends who interact with me online, which is nice. Often I go out with friends to photograph nature. I come home, edit my photos and then store them in my photo album, and thats where they live. My friends on the other hand share them online. I don't get to see these photos, nor do I get to share mine. This is something that bothers me.
The Solution: I think the solution to this is to reduce the number of people that I follow in order to bring to the fore those high quality interactions. I also think it's about interacting with the content that is genuine and not fostering fake online relationships with people who only want your likes and comments.
The Advertising
The whole world is exposed to a huge volume of advertising these days. It is literally everywhere (not at niallbell.com though!), so social media is not an exception, however I think the biggest issue with advertising on social media is that it is so prolific. For example, on YouTube, you sell your eyes for 30 seconds at the start of a video and then you're free to enjoy the content you want to engage with. But on platforms like Instagram, every third post can be an advert, and thats without considering the 'sponsored' content people share. This means that 30% of your time, roughly, is looking at an advert. This is much higher than youtube which could be less than 5% of the time. This becomes exhausting and frustrating.
The Problem: On apps like Instagram and FaceBook, about 30% of your time can be looking at adverts. This is much higher than other platforms like YouTube.
The Solution: I don't know if there is one. I have personalised adverts turned off to reduce the spam of 'BUY THIS BUY THIS BUY THIS!' but doesn't solve the problem. Using Instagram on a web browser removes in feed adverts but not those in stories. Perhaps it's a good idea to just use it on a browser.
Negative Content
I'm a fairly hardy soul but sometime social media shows you thing which makes you feel bad. This doesn't have to be inherently bad content, but algorithms these days are great at showing us things that evoke emotional response, and often that's a negative one!
The Problem: There is too much negative content on social media. I don't get to choose whether or not I see this content and once I have, it's too late.
The Solution: Again, there isn't one. I can choose to follow people who share the content I like to see, but that doesn't stop the algorithm dropping things into my feed. This is a case of reducing the exposure and handling it when it happens.
False Information
Social media is the source of much of the worlds problems. There is a huge issue around misinformation. Much like the negative content, I don't get to choose if I see it or not. Then there is the AI content which loosely fits into this category.
The Problem: People share harmful or just annoying false information. AI generated images are causing all sorts of issues online these days as people believe what they see. Pics or it didn't happen, anyone?
The Solution: If only there was one! This again is about limiting exposure to those who share this kind of thing. FaceBook is really bad for it because of the way groups work. I think limiting group activity is probably a really good place to start. Some platforms are starting to add protections in for revealing AI content and this is the right thing to do, they need to show people where an image is false.
Short Form Video Content
Before TikTok we had Vine, and this niche content didn't really spread until apps like TikTok (formerly Music.ly) hit the sweet spot. The algorithm is what makes it work, people get hooked on the quick hit of dopamine. It's incredibly toxic. Then add to that the promotion of content which promote hyper-sexualisation and you end up with a highly addictive and toxic environment which cannot exist without short form video.
The Problem: Short form video increases engagement significantly over photo content and opens up more opportunities for low quality, high engagement content. Engagement = eyeballs = advert revenue, so platforms favour this content. This means posting exclusively photo content doesn't put you in a good position.
The Solution: There isn't one, which is a reoccurring theme here. The approach which generates the most revenue is the approach that will come out on top. Considering high quality engagement is what matters, posting photos only, and being low rank in the algorithm doesn't mean much. Perhaps changing to a quality engagement model prevents this from being a problem in the first place?
Let's Discuss
So, what is the outcome from all this? I don't really know. I am happy without social media in my life because of all the reasons above, but I miss speaking with friends who live far away and seeing the photos they share. I also appreciate that at the end of this year I plan on travelling and my family and friends will like to see what I'm getting up to, and likewise, I'd like to see what they're getting up to.
Several of the issues I have with social media concern the lack of quality engagement, something which can be solved by trimming the fat on who I follow (I just need all my friends to do the same???). I can live with the advertising because it's not unique to the platform entirely, but I do wonder where advertising will stop on its relentless conquest to sell our eyeballs to the highest bidder?
Considering the content I don't want to see on social media, things like fake news, overly sexually suggestive content (because I'm <30 year old male I should want to see it???), images created with AI, and sensationalised news, how do I solve this? My current thinking is that I can't. However, it might be that I change the way in which I use the apps. If I avoid the 'discovery' type pages, then I should be able to only see the things my friends share. I could pair that with a 'safe word' policy whereby if I see any content I don't like, the app is closed off. This could work, but seems like there are a lot of compromises on my part to make it work.
To Conclude
I'm still not sure if I want to start engaging with social media again. I don't know if the compromises are worth it. It's like voluntarily buying a car where the windows steam up all the time and the wheels only rotate one way. I'll spend some more time pondering but have found drafting out these thoughts useful. I'll be sure to update this post if I my thoughts develop further.
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Created by Niall Bell (niall@niallbell.com)