Social Media or Social Disease?
Is social media evolving into
an antisocial medium? Days after one of its former execs argued that
the answer is yes, Facebook published a post addressing
the issue.
"I think we have created tools that are ripping apart the social
fabric of how society works," Chamath Palihapitiya, who once served as
vice president for growth at Facebook, told an audience at the Stanford
Graduate School of Business last week.
"The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops we've created are destroying how society works," he maintained.
There is a lack of civil discourse and cooperation on social media,
as well as widespread distribution of misinformation and mistruth,
according to Palihapitiya.
"It's not an American problem," he said. "This is not about Russians ads. This is a global problem."
Good and Bad Social Media
Some people feel bad after using social media, but others do not, wrote
Facebook Director of Research David Ginsberg and Research Scientist
Moira Burke.
"According to the research, it really comes down to how you use the technology," they said.
"For example, on social media, you can passively scroll through
posts, much like watching TV, or actively interact with friends --
messaging and commenting on each other's posts," Ginsberg and Burke
pointed out.
"Just like in person, interacting with people you care about can be
beneficial, while simply watching others from the sidelines may make you
feel worse," they explained.
Wellness Through Better New Feeds
To help foster interaction, Facebook has made a number of changes to its services, Ginsberg and Burke noted.
For example, it has started demoting clickbait headlines and false
news, and prioritizing posts from people users care about to foster more
meaningful interactions and reduce passive consumption of low-quality
content.
It also added a "snooze" feature allowing users to hide posts from a person, group or page for 30 days.
Take a Break is another tool designed to remove stressful content. It
gives users more control over when they see an ex-partner, what their
ex can view, and who can look at past posts about the relationship.
In addition, the company has launched several suicide prevention initiatives, the Facebook researchers wrote.
Facebook has invested US$1 million toward research to better
understand the relationship between media technologies, youth
development and well-being, they added.
PR Awareness
Facebook's acknowledgment that there's more to social media than fun and
sharing, and its moves to address the darker aspects of its community
may not be entirely altruistic, suggested John Carroll, a mass
communications professor at Boston University.
Still, "it's a sign their awareness of bad PR has started to rise," he told TechNewsWorld, .
"Many people think these steps are largely cosmetic. I don't see a
lot of newfound enlightenment in Mark Zuckerberg these days," Carroll
added. "He's in a position of influence and importance in the world that
he doesn't want to face up to."
Two Sides to Interaction
Social media can both foster and inhibit interaction, asserted Karen North, a professor of digital social media at the
University of Southern California.
"It can extend out social interactions to times and places when we
wouldn't otherwise be able to interact with each other," she told
TechNewsWorld.
"Usually to interact with people, you need to be in proximity to each
other," North explained. "Social media allows us to be together even
when we are physically apart."
However, social media interaction differs from proximity interaction
because it's done through a device and involves content creation.
"That can interfere with people interacting more personally," North said.
Avoiding Social Media Blues
There are a number of ways for individuals to avoid the potential
negative consequences of social media, said Brian Primack, director of
the University of Pittsburgh
Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health.
There is a connection between increased depressive symptoms and the
increased proportion of social media friends you don't know in real life
to those you do know, he noted.
"We also found that your mental health is better if you report that a
higher proportion of your friends is what you would consider 'close'
friends," Primack told TechNewsWorld.
Limiting the number of social platforms you participate in can be
beneficial, as the number of platforms a person uses can be a predictor
of poor mental health, he observed.
Establish strict guidelines for when and where you use social media, may be helpful, Primack ventured.
"Many families are declaring evening time to be device free," he
noted. "They have everyone in the family drop their devices in a box at
the front door, so that everyone can really focus on each other during a
family dinner and other evening activities."
Originally posted on Technews
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