Why Is Social Media So Badly Represented?
In today’s digital age, we are so dependent on the usage of technology that forgetting a device at home can prove to be detrimental to one’s physical and mental health. Our reliance on applications that range from providing us entertainment to tracking our fitness have consumed us in a colossal vortex run on algorithms. Every single action we take from the moment we break from slumber is calculated by a series of binary numbers that know more about us than we do ourselves. The minute we open our phones in the morning, targeted ads specific to us are strategically marketed to profit specific companies that have paid to have their material proliferate. These advertisements affect our fiscal responsibility by hypnotizing us to buy products that may cost more than what’s necessary.
Social media, an influential category of the expansive world of technology, is an authoritative tool used to promote certain products for profit. Self-esteem issues are heavily promoted, and toxicity within beauty culture has been called out to vulnerable audiences whose mental and physical health have deteriorated after the implementation of unrealistic beauty standards. This negative side is mainly represented in talks about social media with a need for audiences to look and act a certain way to fit to pop culture standards.
With all of this bad representation comes hidden truths that reveal the positive influences that social media has had on today’s society. Yes, unattainable standards of life are often marketed to young, developing audiences, but with these standards comes the ability to spread messages across various platforms. When we communicate a message, unrelated to its intent, we are spreading the content and informing people of the matter the message consists of. While it may be handled in negative ways, it can also bring light to major world problems, and can educate people on necessary information needed for prospering societal welfare.
Social media is a vital tool for sharing stories of current events or past tragedies that have been covered up by corrupt governments worldwide. By doing something as simple as posting an infographic on Instagram, we help millions of people engage in a problem globally and take it one step further to solve it. Online petitions and applications are useful ways of spreading information about events that could have the possibility of changing the course of one’s life. Recent movements have been the result of social media, and they have spurred not only awareness in that area, but also action.
While it is true that social media can be utilized as a channel for “fake news”, there is no denying the fact that it serves as a network of people connecting worldwide to build a strong future generation. Due to social media, we are easily able to share our innovations and get the right attention for important matters that could possibly advance society. It is important to look to social media for connections among different people with rich, diverse backgrounds, but it is also important to separate fact from fiction. Any information presented by a random user about something as subjective as governmental candidacy should be carefully researched at the hands of every individual consumer.
Taking all of these factors into consideration, and all of the potential that social media has to educate people worldwide about urgent issues, we still see it as the enemy and depict it as the barrier that is keeping us from being pure. We fail to recognize the usefulness of communicating with distant family members and spreading awareness for third world countries, and automatically skip to the negatives. Although social media may promote many questionable philosophies, the benefits it provides to societal advancement far outweigh the negatives.
