Social Media was good once upon a time
Social media wasn't all bad, or at least it wasn't at first.
Facebook was founded in February 2004 to connect Harvard students with one another, as its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, was a Harvard sophomore at the time.
The website’s membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston Area, the Ivy League, and gradually most universities in the United States and Canada, Corporations. And that’s only the beginning.
Anyone with a valid email address could register for a Facebook account by September 2006.
Without a doubt, social media has played a critical role in uniting like-minded people.
It has played a critical role in many forms of grassroots activism, such as Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo movement, which have resulted in some of the most significant societal transformations in recent years.
In some certain ways, the growth of specific interest internet communities has benefited people's mental health. According to studies, social media can help marginalized teenagers, such as those who identify as LGBTQ+, form new social relationships.
“It can make us feel part of a global niche community that you’d never have been able to bond with in the same way pre-social media”, says Goldstaub, “The fact that people anywhere in the world can find someone to connect with is pretty magic.”
Certainly, social media had a good intention at one time. They were focusing on breaking down boundaries amongst people, connecting them regardless of where they were physically located around the world, and allowing niche individuals to discover their belonging groups.
However, while the founders of those amazing social applications may have had the best of intentions,
The technological companies behind them must profit.
To continue making a fortune from their existing social applications, they have no choice but to increase the number of users (forcing existing users to invite their friends), increase users' screen time, and feed them more ads so that the platform can make more money from their advertisers.
When anything with good intentions is linked to "MAKING MONEY", it becomes uncontrollable.
As a result, these technology companies began to collect user data, which is now being used to build increasingly intelligent AI prediction models to predict users' moods, preferences, and behavior, accurately feed them addictive content, extend their screen time, and benefit from advertising by unexpectedly entraining them during their screen time.
So, basically, this is how social media goes from good to terrible.
The only way to protect ourselves from becoming addicted to social apps, being manipulated by social platforms, or drowning in the Social Dilemma is to GET AWAY FROM SOCIAL MEDIA ONCE IN A WHILE. Only a break from those greedy tech companies will help us realize what a beautiful life we have, and life is not only about brunches, tits, or weeds.
