When you hear the term “social media,” a few words may come to mind: fun, community, pictures, and videos. These are all, in my opinion, the essence of what social media as a concept was supposed to encompass: a gathering place where people can share and communicate from anywhere. A digital space where people can “be” with one another in just a few clicks. If you put it that way, it sounds unreal — maybe because it is.
With its good, social media has helped propel social movements, connect people from all parts of the world and walks of life, keep us in touch with our long-distance friends, and generally bring joy to its users.
And with its bad, it has seemingly made it harder for people to avoid comparing themselves to others, developed tech addictions, and made it easy to spend more and more money.
I know, this all sounds really doom and gloom. As someone who has been on some form of social media since I was 13, I would’ve rolled my eyes if I heard this when I was younger. Once again, the adults are being dramatic. But as an adult now, I’m okay with acknowledging that despite how much joy social media has given me and the world, it’s also taken joy away.
To me, the issue here is social media’s competitive aspects. Despite these platforms being designed to share our lives with each other and stay connected, social media has inadvertently bred a space for competition and comparison. We see what everyone else has and become painfully aware of what we don’t have.
Due to this, people try to find ways to keep up with their peers while companies market solutions.
By creating a space that allows brands to sell solutions to what are mostly made-up problems, social media has become overrun by capitalistic intentions.
Don’t get me wrong; I love scrolling through my feed as much as the next person. But if I see one more ad, I may go crazy. It seems like we are always being sold some product that will fix something about us. And even if I am completely healthy and satisfied with myself, something online will convince me I’m not. Fine lines? Try this retinol cream! Want to be on trend? You need these new pants. Want this shirt? It’s in the shop on my profile! It’s like social media has become a one-stop shop for making up a problem and selling the solution.
And you may be wondering, why is this so bad? This is just the world as it is now: everyone has to make money, and social media provides another avenue to do that. I agree, but to take something that was meant to be unifying and make it a marketplace seems disjointed, at least to me.
Of course, social media is the perfect way to bring attention to a brand or product, given how many people are gathered in the digital space, but at what cost? What do we lose when all we see are advertisements? Instead of seeing posts from my friends and loved ones, I exhaust myself getting past all of the attempts from companies to get me to buy something I don’t need.
Don’t get me wrong; this is not meant to bash influencers or people who just want a place to advertise their businesses. However, this is directed toward the companies and faceless entities that want to make more and more profits from our social media-imposed insecurities. I hope that someday soon, as we scroll through our feeds, we can be greeted by genuine posts rather than the latest corporate sales pitch.