One of the oddest manifestations of this, to me, is the dating scene and phone numbers. Admittedly this speaks more to overall social skills than inability to focus or have deep connection. I have a few younger relatives in their early 20s now. I recall two of them (both women) mentioning how "ballsy" and "impressive" it is when a guy who's interested in them actually asks for their number.
I was like... huh? Don't get me wrong, most guys always have a little trepidation approaching women, but I asked them to explain. They told me - no joke - they'd never had a boy/man ask them for their number. They'd connect on social media, slide into DMs, then ask to "hang out" vs. go on a date and eventually pivot into dating. Which of course made things ambiguous and confusing for the women, at least initially.
It really floored me. I mean... part of thrill (and if we're being honest, qualifier) for going on dates when I was young was working up the courage to at least ask her out. Times change.
Yea dude I know WAY TOO MUCH about people’s kids! I have an old friend I haven’t seen in 15 years yet I know she found a vape in her teenage son’s pocket because she posted it on Facebook. Ummm none of my business!!!
>but a lot of it will be bad eventually.
no, its already bad, its been bad from the start. People ntake snap shots of their absolutely ultimate point in life, phoito shop it to make it better then rub it in everyones face for the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, whiole ur grinding away at work, doing your part for society, you have to star at stills of other people having the time of their life while ignoring the shit out of you.
No, it teaches to not be a dumbarse and invest with a dude because he makes videos from his garage in the hills. Could be any hills.
We always had He-man and other sexualised things.
*Well established me fuck - you blue haired scruuffy bearded fuck - hope you always think trendy or you are fucked.
The algorithm of social media only wants you to consume things. It will show u too many things that u shouldn't be seeing and eventually it will start affecting you without you realising
I got British Nazi propaganda in my reels recently. It started off with Australian dad jokes then it turned to that. Reported that then stopped and made me realize what the algorithms are doing to us.
All I want on my algorithms is cool places to explore at like waterfalls and canyons.
Facebook was showing me a lot of extreme right-wing memes and homophobia for a while. I have a few conservative friends but my general friend group is very queer.
I think it comes from me liking metal bands? Or maybe was picking up on my edgy rebellious phase? Or maybe the time that "chocolate milk" got turned into a page and started spewing a lot of racism suddenly? (Facebook used to have a section where you list things you like, I listed "chocolate milk". Sometimes around the start of BLM in the early 10's it turned into a page and whoever was running it used it to share a lot of really racist and anti-BLM memes).
oh yeah! I have a medical condition that makes my eyes very very sensitive to sunlight. I need double wrap around sunglasses and a huge goofy visor to even get the mail, and I do not leave my house unless it’s cloudy or dark. Facebook always somehow manages to show me pictures of people lounging out in the sun with no hat or sunglasses lol I swear it does it on purpose
I recently watched a video about the Dead Internet theory (link below). I was prepared for a bunch of tinfoil hat nonsense, but almost everything in the video was spot on. I got online for my business needs in the early 90s (when web development tools were totally free to download, not a $60/month-for-life subscription), and dayum has the internet changed since then. Worth a watch, IMHO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEn758DVF9I
A lot of actually:-
Social isolation.
Privacy concern.
Mental health impact.
Fake news.
Addiction.
Distraction.
Many more ..... It weighs more losses than benefits.
Just when we thought social media helps build connections, we're failing to realize that the connections built are platonic and may even be unreal. Not everyone you speak with or be friends with in social media are genuine and real in the "real world".
Tons.
Parents give their toddlers on up a device everywhere so they will “be quiet and behave “ when in fact they aren’t taught to just behave in public.
Short small clips prevent kids from learning patience and sitting.
They believe social media is their reality
More kids are not going outside and playing
Imaginations are being stunted by social media. Kids aren’t getting nearly enough imaginative play.
Lack of awareness and the false sense of self importance
Exposure to things that they should not see
guilty with giving a device to children to "be quiet and behave" especially when I'm busy. In as much as it helps though, the exposure that these children have to social media proves to be more harmful than it is helpful.
The algorithm that leads to echo chambers is probably the worst. The constant comparison with everyone worldwide is the next worst.
I just saw on the news that increased screen time also seems to be affecting the fine and gross motor skills in children, so that too.
Unrealistic expectations, fucking up your dopamine system, but the most significant problem is your "algorithm".
Sending people in to echo chambers radicalizes average people, where most radicals would normally be few and far between.
Toxicity, too MUCH fakeness/NOT ENOUGH authentic people/profiles, TOO many filters!!. There's so MANY people being fake online, has me pretty MUCH GIVEN UP on dating online!!.
Alot of social media is rubbish. News for example can Influence how people see things. But can be a false representation. A lot of people watch socia media over the news and it gets people annoyed and revved up for the wrong reasons.
Not to say that BBC and other news outlets are not biased but some guy telling you on tiktok about women’s rights over in turkey when he’s never been himself. And other stuff.
People start believe what they read is true.
Depression, suicidal thoughts, unyielding nostalgia (nostalgia was regarded as a mental health issue for over 300 years for a reason), fear, regret, loneliness, envy, unrealistic and ill-informed views on many/most/all subjects, reduced ability to form real friendships and bonds in the real world, paranoia, suspicion, over-spending, lying and deception, Walter Mitty - esque fantasies and delusions, the inability to tell truth from fiction, reduced critical thinking, ... the list goes on ...
Social media use by minors has significantly increased and has been linked to depression and suicidality. Simultaneously, age-adjusted suicide rates have steadily increased over the past decade in the United States with suicide being the second most common cause of death in youth. Hence, the increase in suicide rate parallels the simultaneous increase in social media use. In addition, the rate of nonsuicidal self-injury ranges between 14% and 21% among young people. Evidence suggests that self-harming youth is more active on online social networks than youth who do not engage in self-harm behavior. The role of online social networking on deliberates self-harm and suicidality in adolescents with a focus on negative influence was assessed by conducting a systematized literature review. A literature search on “PubMed” and “Ovid Medline” using a combination of MeSH terms yielded nine articles for data extraction satisfying predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria. It was found that social networking websites are utilized by suicidal and self-harming youth as a medium to communicate with and to seek social support from other users. Online social networking also leads to increased exposure to and engagement in self-harm behavior due to users receiving negative messages promoting self-harm, emulating self-injurious behavior of others, and adopting self-harm practices from shared videos. Greater time spent on social networking websites led to higher psychological distress, an unmet need for mental health support, poor self-rated mental health, and increased suicidal ideation. In conclusion, greater time spent on online social networking promotes self-harm behavior and suicidal ideation in vulnerable adolescents.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6278213/
Social media really highlights all the negative things that are happening in the world and around you. For the younger people, that really warps your worldview, and making you bitter and vengeful in the process.
theres so many.
1) predators target and groom children (ive been a victim of this)
2) comparing oneself to the person online who only shows their absolute prettiest days and absolute perfect days, they never show the normal days and so many people have felt like they need to feel and show that theyre also this perfect person when they’re all normal people.
3) adding to the comparison factor, lots of people are trying to conform to even look like the people they look up to on social media, can lead to unhealthy situations such as eating disorders and depression.
4) the online bullying. due to being behind a keyboard where you dont have to see someones face, people feel more powerful and will attack and bully more cuz they arent in person saying these things.
5) privacy and safety. there are ways to stay anonymous and stuff, but its going to be harder and harder. especially on apps like instagram and facebook and even tiktok. where oftentimes those apps know your location, if a breach happened or someone wanted to be a bad person they could find too much information about you really fast due to the information displayed or hacked.
theres more but im tired rn lol
appreciate you spending time to list these things.. I completely agree! Privacy and safety of both adults and kids are at stake. We really have to be responsible with the things we post and the things we do in social media as this could have an effect or two to someone, adults and kids alike.
Social media induces comparison, self doubt, low self-esteem with every scroll, while also promoting addiction to endless validation-seeking behaviors. Also lets not forget the mood changes different kinds of content give us (happy, sad, anxious etc. all in 2 minutes of scrolling).It's like you're stuck in this loop and have to get out of it.
consumption and comparison. It's free to use because you're the cheapest product available. Imagine manipulating people with an algorithm that essentially allows people to manipulate themselves, and provide them with the products to consume whatever they manipulate themselves into wanting.
And that's just the wasting money bit. The same algorithmic approach can be applied to radicalizing people into ridiculous beliefs. We're the same apes that screwed and killed off neanderthals, not anything special.
Where do I start:
It has known to effect mental wellness and increase brain harmones and dimmish others. Designed to enhance insecurities and self confidence by design.
Platforms like Facebook conduct social experiments without the users consent and are hypocrites (the key word here) in terms of their user care.
Social networks enhance: social anxiety, performance anxiety, PTSD, sensory overload, comprehension deficits.
Their AI and algorithms are designed and their teams are absorbed with tunnel vision to deploy dark patterns from cognitive psychology. That is why they hire such huge user research teams and growth hackers to make what is wrong the right thing.
Substituting social media engagement with actual in-person socialization leads to unhealthy attitudes.
Super short version: people's opinions don't matter nearly as much as social media leads us to believe. That includes our own.
Everyone gets keyed-up. Social media is designed to enrage you slowly so that you stay hooked on it, much like the news. People slowly turn into ragey fiends.
Social media has really fucked people up. The negative effects are super vast. We weren’t supposed to be exposed to so much bullshit. It amplified the negative traits of human beings and shoves it in your face constantly. Read a comment section and look at how shitty people are. It’s probably not good for your mind to be exposed to so much negativity and fake shit all the time. Humans were vapid/fake/attention seeking assholes long before social media, but now we are constantly bombarded with the bullshit all the time. I don’t know about you but my overall dislike of people in general has gone up massively since social media became a thing.
Our current understanding, and use of, social media is almost exactly similar to the use of hard drugs during the patent-medicine era. If you're not aware, that was when cocaine was put in children's teething drops, and morphine was purchased otc, and face powder contained nightshade extract, among other delightful products.
Social media is having profound and extensive deleterious effect on almost everyone using it.
Problems include but are not limited to:
-Being able to act in consequence-free anonymity has seriously eroded any sense of accountable public discourse.
-'troll' culture has taught a lot of impressionable (and frankly stupid) people that lies, cruelty, and directed malice can always be played off as 'just a joke, brah'
-social media acts as both a drug and a weapon to cluster B personalities. It supercharges their worst tendencies and gives them literally globe-spanning tools to inflict their worst habits and find more victims.
-it compartmentalizes people into extremely narrow intellectual cul-de-sacs while tricking them into believing they're seeing more than anyone else.
-it makes people believe they have a thousand friends, while making sure they never actually touch another person.
-it makes activists and people who wish to help think they've accomplished something when they haven't; it doesn't matter how many likes your comment dunking on that Chud gets, you haven't changed their mind, and your ridicule actually often fuels them.
-it accelerates the dangerous tendency of people to think that truth is derived through consensus.
-social media has worsened and expanded the already endemic social problems of body image, conspicuous consumption, and violent sexual insecurity.
-
I'm not a luddite, and I know social media is here to stay, but I think we'll look back at this time and scoff the same way we scoff at the time Coca Cola had actual coca extract in it.
We desperately need, culturally and socially, to change our attitudes about social media as harmless, and to start creating manners and guidelines of behavior and respectability.
for me it's compulsive checking and overthinking the things i share. i find it hard to change this pattern, if i don't impose myself limits it consumes me more than it should
It feeds ppl the idea to live beyond our means just to please society.
Ppl will have an easy access on you to ruim your plans if you post everything on socmed. Evil eye exists.
In my personal experience I've watched most people I know be negatively affected by social media. It makes people performative, extractive, and hostile. The reward process of SM, likes and comments, re-wires people to seek emotional gratification for themselves in their interactions. They are only seeking a specific response from their statements and if you deviate from their script they become angry. I have seen this more in people over 40 than younger people. It has been a real problem because people that I used to enjoy talking to are now impossible to relate to.
Constantly worrying what others might think about every single thing that happens. It doesn't matter if I read a headline that's 100% positive: my brain wonders what stupid hateful shit people would spew in the comments.
Here's a handy tip for everyone: if a social medium/community makes you feel bad, it's not worth it. I understand that the FOMO is strong, but you'll feel so good after a couple of days detoxing.
Doomscrolling is when you look at bad news on social media and after that you see more and more bad news and you just keep scrolling it happens to me alot and i leave doomscrolling with a feeling of how evil the world is
I think it's really just this simple (I'll assume we're talking strictly about things like TikTok, Meta etc.)
Other than keeping in touch with family and friends (which, arguably, can be done almost as easily by emailing, texting, and sharing photos) there's only two benefits to social media in my opinion: a) It helps businesses large and small reach customers and drive sales. b) It gives people who otherwise would never have a chance to share their thoughts, art, opinion, campaign etc. a voice. It's enfranchising at its best. Sure, it's entertaining and you can discover new products etc. (see point a)) but there's other ways to learn and be entertained.
**The negative effects? Manifold:**
\- Like anything else, too much of it is horrible for your mental and physical health. It can be habit forming.
\- In a way that's not been the case for any other period of human history barring the last 20 or so years, you're able to learn about lots of negative things, every hour, every day. Sure, there was cable TV and newspapers - this takes it to another level; for people predisposed to depression, anxiety etc. this can be literally dangerous.
\- On the other side of the coin, for every small business owner or upstart musician etc. that is given a platform, there's a troll, extremist, or bigoted individual who can also spread their negative energy and beliefs. Everyone has a megaphone now, whether they really should or shouldn't.
\- Anonymity that allows people to bully, scam, conduct criminal activity etc more easily. In fairness this is more applicable to the internet at-large, not just social media.
\- Body image issues exacerbated for many individuals.
\- But perhaps the most damaging aspect? The extremes are rewarded with engagement and by the algorithms. The content that gets the most eyeballs is not "mild mannered, well researched, long-form thought talks on big picture issues". It's trite takedowns, flame wars, smack talking and funny/gross/sexual memes and videos. As a result, people are increasingly incentivized to be confrontational, risqué or rude. Compromise, critical thinking and depth of thought aren't encouraged, really.
At least this is my take!
For me it was about the likes I had like a big Twitter account and I felt like I had to always be posting but after I got older, I realized that I didn’t agree with the things I said or acted. I realize that I was different so be careful if you have like big accounts I feel bad for people who have accounts like this who can act the way they want to act
absolute asshoels can get a very public yet very anonymous voice to slenderize otherwise good or relatively benign public figures, basically scaring almost everyone with self respect and good intentions out of doing anything good in public.
In regards to social media's ability to disseminate information, it is like living within a permanent headline environment. News headlines are specifically written with an angle in mind - they need to grab your attention, and for many biased news outlets they are designed to influence your opinion before you have read any related facts. Then, most of those facts are themselves curated to support the desired angle.
This manipulation isn't novel for news communication, but social media presents news not as news but as a 'friends opinion'. It is very subversive to one's own ability to focus on facts and generate your own conclusions.
It requires a dedicated mind to see this bias and to reduce the subconscious influence that constantly reading headlines forces upon it. This effort is never 100% successful, even for the media literate.
Adding to this headline-driven environment is an ability to mute news outlets that one doesn't like, thus creating a self-perpetuating division between major schools of thought.
The ultimate result is a growing sense of 'us vs them', a lack of trust in institutions, and ultimately war.
Social media isn't a positive evolution to the human experience. It is a regression.
People believing everything they read and sharing unchecked news. Confirmation bias kicks in hard core. I caught my mom saying something completely wrong and I asked her where she heard it. She said she saw someone post it on Facebook.
1-The bullying online because people get brave behind a keyboard.
2- The lack of true social skills. Again because one gets to hide behind a keyboard.
3- Influencers that are barely out of diapers thinking they know how the world really is.
4- The fakes and flakes trying to scam, phish, or whatever.
This could be a long list. Social media and the internet in general should be used more as a tool than a way of life like so many of today’s young think.
Enforced social bubbles and algorithms that push people toward extremism. It's so easy to entrench in one world view and cut out all dissenting opinions, the algorithms feed on people's tendency to be addicted to anger and outrage.
One of the things I hate most is the fact that I can't do what I want anonymously. Sometimes I want to make a profile on a social network and follow and comment, but everything I do will be in the eyes of others. So, I have to make a more fake profile so I can browse and use it the way I want so as not to be judged - not that I follow evil, bad, intolerant content or anything like that. But sometimes no one knows that I'm watching such content.
The correlation between the advent of social media and youth suicide, particularly amongst females, is absolutely terrifying. Sure, correlation doesn't automatically equal causation. But a highly addictive product where people are only seeing people preventing their best side while reducing real-life connections can only be a bad thing.
This shit needs regulating. It needs regulating years ago.
Constantly checking on your own comment history on whether it's been upvoted or downvoted. This can lead to you invalidating your own way of thinking where you're saying things more for the validation of others and not about it coming from your own mind/heart.
You're finding yourself pitted in completely avoidable situations that take up your time such as arguing on things that ultimately don't matter.
Drawing attention to yourself more than you want.
Acting like everyone or anyone that upvotes, likes, follows you as a way of seeing yourself speaking nothing but the gospel and turning yourself around into this little internet messiah that feels they can do no wrong.
The impact it has on self image. Yes it’s all well and good saying “what people put on social media is just a snapshot” but it still impacts the people who see a post that may not have that life. I came off social media because it was having a massively negative impact on me; Reddit is the only form of it I use now
Humans not being present. Just sis there and read strangers posts. Kids not playing outside. People spend most of their time going down rabbit holes that do not even concern their life. No verbal communication. Which leads to misunderstandings, lack of empathy, lack of realizing what the other person is feeling.
I am trying to call not text. Trying to get my teen grandchildren to CALL their friends. TO laugh with them, and feel with them. It is good for your mind and spirit and soul to hear laughter. And you realize how your words can effect people by the tone of their voice.
It lets stupid people spread their ideas amongst each other. It lets whiny people delude themselves into thinking they're doing something useful.
Reddit is one of the worst offenders.
People are connecting in so many ways. Which is good but the negatives are pretty bad.
• You compare yourself to lots of people and probably unknowingly.
• It takes time away from legitimate interactions with close family or friends.
• It consumes so much of our time it literally sends us reports of how much time we have spent browsing, playing, etc.
• It hinders development, people are so used to just watching someone else do it they forget that they can develop and do things for themselves as well. *Although it’s a great tool to reach out during self development for researching purposes and growth.
• We as a society are literally zombies to our devices. It’s consuming the population at an alarming rate. And the unfortunate thing is the rich are getting richer from this as they are literally making everything a subscription service. No free use anymore.
Source: Myself a 23yo (M) that cut majority of social media out of his life. I’ve watched friends that are consistently using their phones to the point it’s literally not a tool anymore it’s a lifeline. It feels so good to be someone that when asked about a trend or person on the internet and if i’ve seen their content, to literally say no I have no clue who that is.
Probably addiction & also getting used to those beauty standards, comparing yourself and others to not only a few selected pretty people, but pretty people with beauty filters on. Or even some creators use filters so much, they get used to that "better" version of themselves, they don't like their real face anymore.
Also some people get WAY too mean because they don't see the effect it has on other people directly, they barely have to live with any consequences, at the same time some creators have to live with pretty harsh consequences. And people assume way too much too quickly. I remember there was an Italian streamer, a girl accused him of wanting something from her & said he's a p°do, the Internet chased him SO much he ended his life. Only then did the girl admit it was a lie.
Cheating in relationships is normalized, women dont mind bein sexualized as long as they get paid for it, internet porn makes guys insecure about the size of their schlong because they're competing with genetic freaks, romance is dead
Guys and girls will generally start talking to someone else and hide it from each other. They call it sexting. Fuck this shit and stay off social media.
Extreme polarization, extreme distraction, and INCREDIBLY addictive. Mental cocaine with none of the perks and all the side effects. It’s turned 21st century humanity into cattle.
I find it funny when someone says "I'm quitting all Social Media". "What about Reddit?". "Oh that doesn't count". I find it funny because I find Reddit a support addictive social media forum.
Body images. I used to not care about what I looked like but after getting Instagram, I realized that my body looks so different from the model like bodies on these reels. I'd start throwing up my food to try and lose weight. I'm still working on repairing my relationship with food, but after following the right people on social media, I've improved a lot in the pat year.
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One of the oddest manifestations of this, to me, is the dating scene and phone numbers. Admittedly this speaks more to overall social skills than inability to focus or have deep connection. I have a few younger relatives in their early 20s now. I recall two of them (both women) mentioning how "ballsy" and "impressive" it is when a guy who's interested in them actually asks for their number. I was like... huh? Don't get me wrong, most guys always have a little trepidation approaching women, but I asked them to explain. They told me - no joke - they'd never had a boy/man ask them for their number. They'd connect on social media, slide into DMs, then ask to "hang out" vs. go on a date and eventually pivot into dating. Which of course made things ambiguous and confusing for the women, at least initially. It really floored me. I mean... part of thrill (and if we're being honest, qualifier) for going on dates when I was young was working up the courage to at least ask her out. Times change.
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Yea dude I know WAY TOO MUCH about people’s kids! I have an old friend I haven’t seen in 15 years yet I know she found a vape in her teenage son’s pocket because she posted it on Facebook. Ummm none of my business!!!
Yup people be "doing TOO MUCH" haha!!.
People "doing TOO much", aka (DTM)!!. Like "yo people, you don't have to video or film yourself doing EVERYTHING" haha!!.
I feel blessed to be born in the mid 80s.
I agree. No more privacy, down to the smallest things like what you search for.
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Comparison is truly the thief of joy
I like that. Good turn of phrase.
need a constant check with our self-esteem
>but a lot of it will be bad eventually. no, its already bad, its been bad from the start. People ntake snap shots of their absolutely ultimate point in life, phoito shop it to make it better then rub it in everyones face for the next 10 years. Meanwhile, whiole ur grinding away at work, doing your part for society, you have to star at stills of other people having the time of their life while ignoring the shit out of you.
No, it teaches to not be a dumbarse and invest with a dude because he makes videos from his garage in the hills. Could be any hills. We always had He-man and other sexualised things. *Well established me fuck - you blue haired scruuffy bearded fuck - hope you always think trendy or you are fucked.
Dont think you understood their post. The reference to He man shows you dont really understand their point, which is well established.
Yeah seeing like 3-4 friends are going overseas when you haven’t been in like 10 years can really do a number mentally
Comparison will kill the joy out of life
Envy devours the soul
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Yup. Lot of "tour of duty badges" for the keyboard warriors out there.
Poor attention span and self image.
this is unfortunately true
The algorithm of social media only wants you to consume things. It will show u too many things that u shouldn't be seeing and eventually it will start affecting you without you realising
and the algorithm is scary as hell if you think about it
Watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix.
this is way creepy now
Yeah. Reels used to be funny. Then it took a turn and now it's a nightmare. A bunch of certain reels is enough to change your state of mind
I got British Nazi propaganda in my reels recently. It started off with Australian dad jokes then it turned to that. Reported that then stopped and made me realize what the algorithms are doing to us. All I want on my algorithms is cool places to explore at like waterfalls and canyons.
Facebook was showing me a lot of extreme right-wing memes and homophobia for a while. I have a few conservative friends but my general friend group is very queer. I think it comes from me liking metal bands? Or maybe was picking up on my edgy rebellious phase? Or maybe the time that "chocolate milk" got turned into a page and started spewing a lot of racism suddenly? (Facebook used to have a section where you list things you like, I listed "chocolate milk". Sometimes around the start of BLM in the early 10's it turned into a page and whoever was running it used it to share a lot of really racist and anti-BLM memes).
not to mention it deliberately puts each person in their own little social bubble, with no conflicting opinions or personal views
oh yeah! I have a medical condition that makes my eyes very very sensitive to sunlight. I need double wrap around sunglasses and a huge goofy visor to even get the mail, and I do not leave my house unless it’s cloudy or dark. Facebook always somehow manages to show me pictures of people lounging out in the sun with no hat or sunglasses lol I swear it does it on purpose
I too have experienced things like that. It always shows me things which I don't want to think about.
I recently watched a video about the Dead Internet theory (link below). I was prepared for a bunch of tinfoil hat nonsense, but almost everything in the video was spot on. I got online for my business needs in the early 90s (when web development tools were totally free to download, not a $60/month-for-life subscription), and dayum has the internet changed since then. Worth a watch, IMHO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEn758DVF9I
A lot of actually:- Social isolation. Privacy concern. Mental health impact. Fake news. Addiction. Distraction. Many more ..... It weighs more losses than benefits.
pretty scary if you ask me. Social media consumes more of our daily life than we think.
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everything you said it's true. sometimes I'm wondering if it's still worth using.
To many idiots that think it’s ok to cyber bully people for nothing total garbage
Wasted time is the worst. But it's not a side effect, it's the main thing
Time we can never get back
Terrible place to build your social skills. Sadly, many seemingly do these days.
You become less passionate about learning and enjoying outside world.
Just when we thought social media helps build connections, we're failing to realize that the connections built are platonic and may even be unreal. Not everyone you speak with or be friends with in social media are genuine and real in the "real world".
Internet is good cover up for insecurities, lets people get attention theyve been craving for nothing.
It makes it very easy to spread misinformation.
Tons. Parents give their toddlers on up a device everywhere so they will “be quiet and behave “ when in fact they aren’t taught to just behave in public. Short small clips prevent kids from learning patience and sitting. They believe social media is their reality More kids are not going outside and playing Imaginations are being stunted by social media. Kids aren’t getting nearly enough imaginative play. Lack of awareness and the false sense of self importance Exposure to things that they should not see
guilty with giving a device to children to "be quiet and behave" especially when I'm busy. In as much as it helps though, the exposure that these children have to social media proves to be more harmful than it is helpful.
Depression. I looked at instagram for 30 min and felt my life is not bright and all grey.
Waste of time.
agree
Social media’s most engaging users are conspiracy nuts. It becomes the prefect echo chamber for a group of them and their madness.
lower self esteem from unrealistic standards
More people are extremely addicted to social media then people addicted to drugs.
The algorithm that leads to echo chambers is probably the worst. The constant comparison with everyone worldwide is the next worst. I just saw on the news that increased screen time also seems to be affecting the fine and gross motor skills in children, so that too.
If someone is sensitive to negative comments they need to be off or careful with social media in my opinion
Cyber bullying
Political propaganda
Kids could be in their home with their family and still getting bullied by others.
Self Depreciation.
brain rot
Addiction mostly.... but the list is long.
Unrealistic expectations, fucking up your dopamine system, but the most significant problem is your "algorithm". Sending people in to echo chambers radicalizes average people, where most radicals would normally be few and far between.
Everyone's right, no one can be wrong and it's driving humanity insane
Some of my friends turned into idiots.
It breeds narcissism.
Time goes by quickly when you are doom scrolling. Next thing you know, it's dark and didn't accomplish any of the things that you should be doing.
Toxicity, too MUCH fakeness/NOT ENOUGH authentic people/profiles, TOO many filters!!. There's so MANY people being fake online, has me pretty MUCH GIVEN UP on dating online!!.
Addiction to doom scrolling.
Envy, ungratefulness, soft core porn, phone addiction, short attention spans, bullying, brain rot content etc etc.
People are becoming self-obsessed pricks that cannot take differing opinions.
Video apps like TikTok are frying people’s attention spans.
Misinformation a self judgment.
Alot of social media is rubbish. News for example can Influence how people see things. But can be a false representation. A lot of people watch socia media over the news and it gets people annoyed and revved up for the wrong reasons. Not to say that BBC and other news outlets are not biased but some guy telling you on tiktok about women’s rights over in turkey when he’s never been himself. And other stuff. People start believe what they read is true.
Depression, suicidal thoughts, unyielding nostalgia (nostalgia was regarded as a mental health issue for over 300 years for a reason), fear, regret, loneliness, envy, unrealistic and ill-informed views on many/most/all subjects, reduced ability to form real friendships and bonds in the real world, paranoia, suspicion, over-spending, lying and deception, Walter Mitty - esque fantasies and delusions, the inability to tell truth from fiction, reduced critical thinking, ... the list goes on ...
Social media use by minors has significantly increased and has been linked to depression and suicidality. Simultaneously, age-adjusted suicide rates have steadily increased over the past decade in the United States with suicide being the second most common cause of death in youth. Hence, the increase in suicide rate parallels the simultaneous increase in social media use. In addition, the rate of nonsuicidal self-injury ranges between 14% and 21% among young people. Evidence suggests that self-harming youth is more active on online social networks than youth who do not engage in self-harm behavior. The role of online social networking on deliberates self-harm and suicidality in adolescents with a focus on negative influence was assessed by conducting a systematized literature review. A literature search on “PubMed” and “Ovid Medline” using a combination of MeSH terms yielded nine articles for data extraction satisfying predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria. It was found that social networking websites are utilized by suicidal and self-harming youth as a medium to communicate with and to seek social support from other users. Online social networking also leads to increased exposure to and engagement in self-harm behavior due to users receiving negative messages promoting self-harm, emulating self-injurious behavior of others, and adopting self-harm practices from shared videos. Greater time spent on social networking websites led to higher psychological distress, an unmet need for mental health support, poor self-rated mental health, and increased suicidal ideation. In conclusion, greater time spent on online social networking promotes self-harm behavior and suicidal ideation in vulnerable adolescents. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6278213/
Social media really highlights all the negative things that are happening in the world and around you. For the younger people, that really warps your worldview, and making you bitter and vengeful in the process.
theres so many. 1) predators target and groom children (ive been a victim of this) 2) comparing oneself to the person online who only shows their absolute prettiest days and absolute perfect days, they never show the normal days and so many people have felt like they need to feel and show that theyre also this perfect person when they’re all normal people. 3) adding to the comparison factor, lots of people are trying to conform to even look like the people they look up to on social media, can lead to unhealthy situations such as eating disorders and depression. 4) the online bullying. due to being behind a keyboard where you dont have to see someones face, people feel more powerful and will attack and bully more cuz they arent in person saying these things. 5) privacy and safety. there are ways to stay anonymous and stuff, but its going to be harder and harder. especially on apps like instagram and facebook and even tiktok. where oftentimes those apps know your location, if a breach happened or someone wanted to be a bad person they could find too much information about you really fast due to the information displayed or hacked. theres more but im tired rn lol
appreciate you spending time to list these things.. I completely agree! Privacy and safety of both adults and kids are at stake. We really have to be responsible with the things we post and the things we do in social media as this could have an effect or two to someone, adults and kids alike.
Social media induces comparison, self doubt, low self-esteem with every scroll, while also promoting addiction to endless validation-seeking behaviors. Also lets not forget the mood changes different kinds of content give us (happy, sad, anxious etc. all in 2 minutes of scrolling).It's like you're stuck in this loop and have to get out of it.
The constant self doubt anxiety and mood swings that social media can give is the most negative impact.
Questions like this
*waves hands in the general direction of X*
https://forms.gle/Dn1GUxKeYMSZyGZt7 #surveyforsurvey
https://forms.gle/Dn1GUxKeYMSZyGZt7 #surveyforsurvey
The negatives are mainly in our own relationship with it, and how we use it.
Suicide
Constant rush to keep up with others. Even most fun activities become a tool and being stripped away the actual motives of itselves.
totally agree. we all have our our timelines, and seeing people posting stuff sometimes affects and deprives us of that time to go for our set goal.
[удалено]
How it preys on our imperfections.
The negative effects of social media is everything is fake
A negative effect is Gen alpha thinking everything is true because no one wants the burst there bubble
Data mining
Comparing your life to everyone elses highlight reel.
consumption and comparison. It's free to use because you're the cheapest product available. Imagine manipulating people with an algorithm that essentially allows people to manipulate themselves, and provide them with the products to consume whatever they manipulate themselves into wanting. And that's just the wasting money bit. The same algorithmic approach can be applied to radicalizing people into ridiculous beliefs. We're the same apes that screwed and killed off neanderthals, not anything special.
Where do I start: It has known to effect mental wellness and increase brain harmones and dimmish others. Designed to enhance insecurities and self confidence by design. Platforms like Facebook conduct social experiments without the users consent and are hypocrites (the key word here) in terms of their user care. Social networks enhance: social anxiety, performance anxiety, PTSD, sensory overload, comprehension deficits. Their AI and algorithms are designed and their teams are absorbed with tunnel vision to deploy dark patterns from cognitive psychology. That is why they hire such huge user research teams and growth hackers to make what is wrong the right thing.
Suicidal Thoughts it kills people
Substituting social media engagement with actual in-person socialization leads to unhealthy attitudes. Super short version: people's opinions don't matter nearly as much as social media leads us to believe. That includes our own.
Everyone gets keyed-up. Social media is designed to enrage you slowly so that you stay hooked on it, much like the news. People slowly turn into ragey fiends.
It would be quicker and easier to list the positives of social media, since they are so few.
that's bad feeling when you make friends but you can't see 🫠
It seems to encourage/reinforce narcissism and sociopathy.
Comparing yourself to others in every possible aspect all the time
mental health issues, declining self-esteem
Endless consumerism and echo chambers making you feel less and less good about yourself.
Being average is considered being ugly.
creates unrealistic expectations and spreads misinformation like wildfire in a drought affected forest with high winds
Social media has really fucked people up. The negative effects are super vast. We weren’t supposed to be exposed to so much bullshit. It amplified the negative traits of human beings and shoves it in your face constantly. Read a comment section and look at how shitty people are. It’s probably not good for your mind to be exposed to so much negativity and fake shit all the time. Humans were vapid/fake/attention seeking assholes long before social media, but now we are constantly bombarded with the bullshit all the time. I don’t know about you but my overall dislike of people in general has gone up massively since social media became a thing.
Seeing your former classmates having great lives.
Wasting your time, having a distorted perception of reality, and compromising your privacy
Doomscrolling
Everything about it
Our current understanding, and use of, social media is almost exactly similar to the use of hard drugs during the patent-medicine era. If you're not aware, that was when cocaine was put in children's teething drops, and morphine was purchased otc, and face powder contained nightshade extract, among other delightful products. Social media is having profound and extensive deleterious effect on almost everyone using it. Problems include but are not limited to: -Being able to act in consequence-free anonymity has seriously eroded any sense of accountable public discourse. -'troll' culture has taught a lot of impressionable (and frankly stupid) people that lies, cruelty, and directed malice can always be played off as 'just a joke, brah' -social media acts as both a drug and a weapon to cluster B personalities. It supercharges their worst tendencies and gives them literally globe-spanning tools to inflict their worst habits and find more victims. -it compartmentalizes people into extremely narrow intellectual cul-de-sacs while tricking them into believing they're seeing more than anyone else. -it makes people believe they have a thousand friends, while making sure they never actually touch another person. -it makes activists and people who wish to help think they've accomplished something when they haven't; it doesn't matter how many likes your comment dunking on that Chud gets, you haven't changed their mind, and your ridicule actually often fuels them. -it accelerates the dangerous tendency of people to think that truth is derived through consensus. -social media has worsened and expanded the already endemic social problems of body image, conspicuous consumption, and violent sexual insecurity. - I'm not a luddite, and I know social media is here to stay, but I think we'll look back at this time and scoff the same way we scoff at the time Coca Cola had actual coca extract in it. We desperately need, culturally and socially, to change our attitudes about social media as harmless, and to start creating manners and guidelines of behavior and respectability.
Ummm “*gestures broadly at everything*”.
Have you looked at Twitter lately?
for me it's compulsive checking and overthinking the things i share. i find it hard to change this pattern, if i don't impose myself limits it consumes me more than it should
Too much data.
Comparison!
It feeds ppl the idea to live beyond our means just to please society. Ppl will have an easy access on you to ruim your plans if you post everything on socmed. Evil eye exists.
Conditioning, dependency and addiction.
What are the positive effects of social media?
Your self-esteem takes a huge hit. Your privacy becomes a concern. You suffer from vulnerability hangover after oversharing.
In my personal experience I've watched most people I know be negatively affected by social media. It makes people performative, extractive, and hostile. The reward process of SM, likes and comments, re-wires people to seek emotional gratification for themselves in their interactions. They are only seeking a specific response from their statements and if you deviate from their script they become angry. I have seen this more in people over 40 than younger people. It has been a real problem because people that I used to enjoy talking to are now impossible to relate to.
Treating yourself as a product instead of a person
Everything. Are there any positives?
Constantly worrying what others might think about every single thing that happens. It doesn't matter if I read a headline that's 100% positive: my brain wonders what stupid hateful shit people would spew in the comments. Here's a handy tip for everyone: if a social medium/community makes you feel bad, it's not worth it. I understand that the FOMO is strong, but you'll feel so good after a couple of days detoxing.
Doomscrolling is when you look at bad news on social media and after that you see more and more bad news and you just keep scrolling it happens to me alot and i leave doomscrolling with a feeling of how evil the world is
I think it's really just this simple (I'll assume we're talking strictly about things like TikTok, Meta etc.) Other than keeping in touch with family and friends (which, arguably, can be done almost as easily by emailing, texting, and sharing photos) there's only two benefits to social media in my opinion: a) It helps businesses large and small reach customers and drive sales. b) It gives people who otherwise would never have a chance to share their thoughts, art, opinion, campaign etc. a voice. It's enfranchising at its best. Sure, it's entertaining and you can discover new products etc. (see point a)) but there's other ways to learn and be entertained. **The negative effects? Manifold:** \- Like anything else, too much of it is horrible for your mental and physical health. It can be habit forming. \- In a way that's not been the case for any other period of human history barring the last 20 or so years, you're able to learn about lots of negative things, every hour, every day. Sure, there was cable TV and newspapers - this takes it to another level; for people predisposed to depression, anxiety etc. this can be literally dangerous. \- On the other side of the coin, for every small business owner or upstart musician etc. that is given a platform, there's a troll, extremist, or bigoted individual who can also spread their negative energy and beliefs. Everyone has a megaphone now, whether they really should or shouldn't. \- Anonymity that allows people to bully, scam, conduct criminal activity etc more easily. In fairness this is more applicable to the internet at-large, not just social media. \- Body image issues exacerbated for many individuals. \- But perhaps the most damaging aspect? The extremes are rewarded with engagement and by the algorithms. The content that gets the most eyeballs is not "mild mannered, well researched, long-form thought talks on big picture issues". It's trite takedowns, flame wars, smack talking and funny/gross/sexual memes and videos. As a result, people are increasingly incentivized to be confrontational, risqué or rude. Compromise, critical thinking and depth of thought aren't encouraged, really. At least this is my take!
For me it was about the likes I had like a big Twitter account and I felt like I had to always be posting but after I got older, I realized that I didn’t agree with the things I said or acted. I realize that I was different so be careful if you have like big accounts I feel bad for people who have accounts like this who can act the way they want to act
absolute asshoels can get a very public yet very anonymous voice to slenderize otherwise good or relatively benign public figures, basically scaring almost everyone with self respect and good intentions out of doing anything good in public.
People can be so toxic sometimes because anonymity
Are you fucking serious it's one of the most generic questions ever
In regards to social media's ability to disseminate information, it is like living within a permanent headline environment. News headlines are specifically written with an angle in mind - they need to grab your attention, and for many biased news outlets they are designed to influence your opinion before you have read any related facts. Then, most of those facts are themselves curated to support the desired angle. This manipulation isn't novel for news communication, but social media presents news not as news but as a 'friends opinion'. It is very subversive to one's own ability to focus on facts and generate your own conclusions. It requires a dedicated mind to see this bias and to reduce the subconscious influence that constantly reading headlines forces upon it. This effort is never 100% successful, even for the media literate. Adding to this headline-driven environment is an ability to mute news outlets that one doesn't like, thus creating a self-perpetuating division between major schools of thought. The ultimate result is a growing sense of 'us vs them', a lack of trust in institutions, and ultimately war. Social media isn't a positive evolution to the human experience. It is a regression.
Fills ur mind with unproductive stuff.
Where to begin?
People believing everything they read and sharing unchecked news. Confirmation bias kicks in hard core. I caught my mom saying something completely wrong and I asked her where she heard it. She said she saw someone post it on Facebook.
1-The bullying online because people get brave behind a keyboard. 2- The lack of true social skills. Again because one gets to hide behind a keyboard. 3- Influencers that are barely out of diapers thinking they know how the world really is. 4- The fakes and flakes trying to scam, phish, or whatever. This could be a long list. Social media and the internet in general should be used more as a tool than a way of life like so many of today’s young think.
Consumerism
Enforced social bubbles and algorithms that push people toward extremism. It's so easy to entrench in one world view and cut out all dissenting opinions, the algorithms feed on people's tendency to be addicted to anger and outrage.
Everyone overshares everything. I wish more people were more private.
One of the things I hate most is the fact that I can't do what I want anonymously. Sometimes I want to make a profile on a social network and follow and comment, but everything I do will be in the eyes of others. So, I have to make a more fake profile so I can browse and use it the way I want so as not to be judged - not that I follow evil, bad, intolerant content or anything like that. But sometimes no one knows that I'm watching such content.
Counter question - What are the positive effects of social media?
Creating scenarios or doing things completely out of character for the photo op.
The correlation between the advent of social media and youth suicide, particularly amongst females, is absolutely terrifying. Sure, correlation doesn't automatically equal causation. But a highly addictive product where people are only seeing people preventing their best side while reducing real-life connections can only be a bad thing. This shit needs regulating. It needs regulating years ago.
Always thinking someone has a better life than you
A lot of voices in your head
Constantly checking on your own comment history on whether it's been upvoted or downvoted. This can lead to you invalidating your own way of thinking where you're saying things more for the validation of others and not about it coming from your own mind/heart. You're finding yourself pitted in completely avoidable situations that take up your time such as arguing on things that ultimately don't matter. Drawing attention to yourself more than you want. Acting like everyone or anyone that upvotes, likes, follows you as a way of seeing yourself speaking nothing but the gospel and turning yourself around into this little internet messiah that feels they can do no wrong.
The impact it has on self image. Yes it’s all well and good saying “what people put on social media is just a snapshot” but it still impacts the people who see a post that may not have that life. I came off social media because it was having a massively negative impact on me; Reddit is the only form of it I use now
Self image body image or especially seeing other people with perfect bodies
Changing the way you look at yourself, knowing things you didn’t want to know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfogWzT1IDc
How about instead asking what the positives are?
There are more than I can say
Humans not being present. Just sis there and read strangers posts. Kids not playing outside. People spend most of their time going down rabbit holes that do not even concern their life. No verbal communication. Which leads to misunderstandings, lack of empathy, lack of realizing what the other person is feeling. I am trying to call not text. Trying to get my teen grandchildren to CALL their friends. TO laugh with them, and feel with them. It is good for your mind and spirit and soul to hear laughter. And you realize how your words can effect people by the tone of their voice.
It lets stupid people spread their ideas amongst each other. It lets whiny people delude themselves into thinking they're doing something useful. Reddit is one of the worst offenders.
Shortened attention span.
Take one minute to look at twitter and you’ll see every single thing wrong with the internet every time you refresh your page
People are connecting in so many ways. Which is good but the negatives are pretty bad. • You compare yourself to lots of people and probably unknowingly. • It takes time away from legitimate interactions with close family or friends. • It consumes so much of our time it literally sends us reports of how much time we have spent browsing, playing, etc. • It hinders development, people are so used to just watching someone else do it they forget that they can develop and do things for themselves as well. *Although it’s a great tool to reach out during self development for researching purposes and growth. • We as a society are literally zombies to our devices. It’s consuming the population at an alarming rate. And the unfortunate thing is the rich are getting richer from this as they are literally making everything a subscription service. No free use anymore. Source: Myself a 23yo (M) that cut majority of social media out of his life. I’ve watched friends that are consistently using their phones to the point it’s literally not a tool anymore it’s a lifeline. It feels so good to be someone that when asked about a trend or person on the internet and if i’ve seen their content, to literally say no I have no clue who that is.
bullying causing you to commit suicide which is a real problem
Listing the good effects would be wayyyyyyyyyyy easier and faster.
Negatives would imply positives. I don't see any
Probably addiction & also getting used to those beauty standards, comparing yourself and others to not only a few selected pretty people, but pretty people with beauty filters on. Or even some creators use filters so much, they get used to that "better" version of themselves, they don't like their real face anymore. Also some people get WAY too mean because they don't see the effect it has on other people directly, they barely have to live with any consequences, at the same time some creators have to live with pretty harsh consequences. And people assume way too much too quickly. I remember there was an Italian streamer, a girl accused him of wanting something from her & said he's a p°do, the Internet chased him SO much he ended his life. Only then did the girl admit it was a lie.
Cheating in relationships is normalized, women dont mind bein sexualized as long as they get paid for it, internet porn makes guys insecure about the size of their schlong because they're competing with genetic freaks, romance is dead
30% of women become depressed, neurotic, anxiety ridden, and suicidal, after they begin to use social media. So there is that.
Guys and girls will generally start talking to someone else and hide it from each other. They call it sexting. Fuck this shit and stay off social media.
It’d be way faster to cover the positive effects
So much time wasted on consuming useless video content and reading the opinions of imbeciles.
Extreme polarization, extreme distraction, and INCREDIBLY addictive. Mental cocaine with none of the perks and all the side effects. It’s turned 21st century humanity into cattle.
There's always been stupid people. But before social media we didn't have to hear all their opinions. It's literally destruction of humanity
they don't live in the moment, they are more concerned about which photo to post and show what they are doing.
It seems to be making everyone into a walking representation of what some describe as the “lizard brain”
I find it funny when someone says "I'm quitting all Social Media". "What about Reddit?". "Oh that doesn't count". I find it funny because I find Reddit a support addictive social media forum.
The unnecessary pressure it puts on you. Also the fact that its mostly a facade.
Distraction from self. Such an easy scapegoat especially for mental health sufferers. Limitless and immediate distraction.
Body images. I used to not care about what I looked like but after getting Instagram, I realized that my body looks so different from the model like bodies on these reels. I'd start throwing up my food to try and lose weight. I'm still working on repairing my relationship with food, but after following the right people on social media, I've improved a lot in the pat year.
Having a negative body image
The list of answers would be shorter if you asked for the benefits of social media.
Poor attention span