Reflect on whether social media is good or bad for users’ well-being. Use examples that reference the design of platforms, their business models, and the type of practices and content they host.
Social media is bad for users wellbeing because:
- The design of social media is addictive
- Personalization algorithms
- Alerts/Endless notifications
- Infinite Scroll/Autoplay
- Ephemeral content
- Reels, short formats
- Social validation (Likes and Shares)
- Social comparison
- Gamification of life
- business models that prioritise the sale of valuable user data
- data mining
- type of content posted: teens self esteem on instagram
- Increased social media = heightened levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness, insomnia, overwhelm and declined subjective well-being.
- Conversely, has also been linked to increased feelings of social connection and eudaimonic well-being.
- social media practice of self-responsibilization
- social media companies are placing the responsibility of using their addictive platforms in a productive manner on us, despite knowing the flaws of their own system
However, there are goods on social media
- community made posts with calming, non-stimulating video and audio reminding other users to ‘take a break from scrollibg’
- however as this style of posts and the desire to stop the generation wide habit of doomscrolling goes, the industry of ‘getting off of your phone’ becomes more profitable. malicious side to this seemingly innocent trend