Social Media – An Insidious Addiction That Steals Your Time
Social Media has become prevalent in the lives of billions of people worldwide. If you have a cellphone, you have social media, for better or worse. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that all social media is bad or everything about a specific site is bad. However, it’s crucial to recognize that the bad far outweighs the good. And the distractions far outweigh the usefulness. So, let’s look at social media in general and some of the most popular social media sites, their primary focus, and what they can do for us and to us.
Pros and Cons of Social Media in General
Social media has dramatically changed the world, for good and for bad. But there’s no going back to pre-social media, so let’s look at how to take advantage of its benefits and minimize its liabilities.
Some Pros of Social Media
1. Communication: Social media has excellent tools for keeping in touch with family and friends in far-off places. No more expensive telephone cards with limited minutes. Now, you can talk or type until you’re ready to finish without expense or limitations.
2. Promoting Talent: Talented people thrive on social media, where they can express themselves artistically or musically with little cost. They have the tools to showcase their talents to the world or those interested in what they offer. Social media has made the process much easier, whether it’s only to satisfy their creativity or to make a profit.
3. News: If you want to inform yourself about the world, social media is the place to go. The world has become much smaller, and much more news is available to digest. So, if you’re a news junky, sign up to your favourite news outlet or outlets to find out what’s going on in the world or your own local community.
4. Education: Social media is excellent for learners. For those who think learning is a lifetime experience and feel you should always be learning something new, you can find it all on social media. There are things you always wanted to learn but never had the time for or unusual things you didn’t even know existed. It’s all available online for free or at a minimal cost.
5. Entertainment: Whether you’re looking for entertainment or gossip about those who entertain us, it’s all available any time, day or night. You can register for paid premium services or even find a lot of free entertainment online. The variety is unlimited. Just search, and you will eventually find what you are looking for.
Some Cons of Social Media
1. Privacy: First, you must realize there is no privacy on the Internet. Whatever you post is there forever and ever and ever.
The Internet is the Wild West of communication. Everyone should be concerned about privacy, so you must be very careful when giving out personal information. All reputable sites have secure systems that protect your information until they don’t. Even the most sophisticated systems are vulnerable. Someone, somewhere, will find a way to hack into the secure files. The Internet has created new opportunities for scams and illegal activity.
2. Cyberbullying: Bullying is a problem in schools as well as offices. The Internet, and especially social media sites, have greatly magnified the bullying situation. Anonymity and the ability to reach many people simultaneously have increased the spreading of rumours and images. The subjects of bullying have become vulnerable much more quickly through posts and reposts. With the availability of the Internet and cyberbullying, the victim and the predator don’t have to live in the same area or country or even know each other personally. Sextortion has become a popular pastime with perverts around the world.
3. News: Nowadays, it is difficult to find news that is objectively true. Almost every news item is nothing more than an opinion portrayed as facts. The Internet and social media sites, in particular, are to blame for the blurring of opinions and facts. Anyone is allowed to say anything they want, and they don’t need to provide proof or context to back up their rhetoric. The world revolves around lies, misinformation, and selectively left-out relevant details.
4. Distraction: For many people, the mere beep of their phone signals that something much more important than what you are doing awaits you. It could be an email from a friend, a Facebook post, or any old nonsense, but you must look now. It’ll still be there in an hour, tomorrow, or next month, but it must be important, so you must look now. We no longer have control of our time. If social media owns our time, they own us.
5. Addictive: Social media is the new addiction causing mental health issues in young and old. In the early days of the Internet, experts advised parents to have their computers in a family area where they could monitor children’s screen time and content viewed. Now, that warning is useless as virtually every teen and many preteens have cell phones to stare at whenever and for however long they want.
Popular Social Media Sites in North America
Facebook is by far the most popular social media site worldwide. Its messaging app Messenger, which provides private text conversations, voice calls, and video chats, is probably its most used feature.
Custom profiles allow users to include as much or as little information as they want, including pictures. You can connect with friends and acquaintances by sending and accepting friend requests on the platform.
There have been concerns with how Facebook handles privacy and who receives the information it collects about individuals. The information users willingly supply, as well as other information Facebook gleans from users’ activities on its platform, is significant.
Facebook is one of the sites where users waste time searching nonsense added by so-called Facebook friends. It commences with one beep of your phone and ends hours later after going down some rabbit hole searching for something but never actually finding it. It also can create addiction comparable to drug addiction.
YouTube
Coming in as the second most popular is YouTube. It’s all about the videos. People post videos about anything and everything. If you want to know how to do something, there’s a video or several videos showing you how to do it. I once searched for a video on changing the taillight bulbs on my 1997 Dodge Caravan because I couldn’t figure it out myself. I found a video of a nine-year-old Vietnamese boy (I assume with the supervision of his father) who taught me how.
YouTube’s most valuable and enjoyable videos are its music videos. I can view and listen to older music and discover newer music and artists I wouldn’t otherwise know about.
Creative people can make money on YouTube through advertising by creating their own YouTube channels and posting interesting theme videos.
Copyright is a big issue on YouTube. Some people post videos claiming to be the original content creators. With the Internet, monitoring copyright violations is much more challenging but not impossible. Stealing other people’s creative work and portraying it as your own can be expensive if you get caught.
Instagram is about sharing temporary content, such as photos, stories, and reels. It disappears from public view 24 hours after publishing. You can create a public account visible to the general public or a private account visible only to approved followers. The platform has many filters to adjust or augment whatever content you post.
Due to filtering and editing tools, unrealistic beauty standards and body image are portrayed on Instagram, causing feelings of inadequacy, especially in teenage girls. These images can lead to anxiety and mental health issues. The platform also promotes consumerism and influences user purchases.
Pinterest is a platform for creativity through curated theme pictures. It is an excellent place to find ideas about various topics, from home decor to DIY projects to recipes and meal planning. It is all about visuals with beautiful photos.
However, Pinterest lacks tools similar to those used by other platforms to augment the photos, so what you see is what you get. Copyright infringement is also a problem. Be careful using other people’s creations without their permission, as there could be significant consequences down the road.
X (Formerly Known as Twitter)
Although most people still call it Twitter, Elon Musk promptly and creatively (sarcasm) changed its name and logo to X when he purchased the platform. After using X and its predecessor, Twitter, the only good thing I can say about it is that it is easy to use.
It is a dark and toxic platform of disinformation, rumour spreading, out-and-out lying, name-calling, harassment, racism, bigotry, and just general bad vibes. To maintain your sanity, avoid X at all costs. It’s not news or entertainment. As far as I can see, it has no redeeming qualities.
In summary, the Internet and social media sites, in particular, can be a scary place. Use your time wisely, and don’t easily give up your personal information. Use it to get what you want or need, but don’t let it use you. Protect yourself from those who want to take advantage of you, but especially protect your children.
The above essay is for entertainment and English language study only. For suggestions on how to use this post to improve your English reading and listening comprehension, click here.
Vocabulary
- prevalent – adjective; generally existing or occurring; everywhere (in this context)
- crucial – adjective; decisive, critical; very important
- showcase – transitive verb; exhibit or display; show
- sophisticated – adjective; technologically advanced; complicated and safe (in this context)
- vulnerable – adjective; liable to damage or harm; can be hacked (in this context)
- anonymity – noun; nameless; without revealing their identity
- rumour – noun; general talk or hearsay of doubtful accuracy; stories that are exaggerated or untrue
- sextortion – noun; when someone threatens to expose sexually compromising information; naked pictures, videos, etc.
- pervert – noun; a person showing sexual perversion; a person with unusual thoughts about sex
- blurring – transitive verb; make or become unclear or less distinct; confuse the issues
- rhetoric – noun; language designed to persuade or impress (often with an implication of insincerity or exaggeration, etc.); lying to convince you of something
- glean – transitive verb; collect or scrape together (news, facts, gossip, etc.) in small quantities; to accumulate many small facts
- so-called – adjective; commonly designated or known as, often incorrectly; not a true description; often used as an insult
- rabbit hole – metaphor; wasting a lot of time looking for something but never finding it (in this context)
- copyright violation – noun; misusing or stealing someone’s creative property for which they own exclusive rights
- inadequacy – noun; not adequate; insufficient; unfavourable comparison to impossibly high standards
- consumerism – noun; preoccupation with consumer goods and their acquisition; the need to buy advertised things
- curated – adjective;collection of similar or related items from various sources
Comprehension Questions
- Do you have a cell phone?
Yes or No - If your answer to question #1 is “Yes”, how many social media accounts do you have?
(a) one, (b) two, (c) three, or (d) more than three - How do you usually communicate with your friends?
(a) telephone, (b) text, (c) email, or (d) other - Are you now, or have you ever been bullied?
Yes or No - Which social media site is most famous for its videos??
(a) Facebook, (b) YouTube, (c) Pinterest, or (d) X
Resources
- Based on my opinion only.
And Now For Your Listening Enjoyment
Here’s comedy duo Rhett and Link singing about their addiction to social media in their 2007 recording of “Facebook Song”.
Lyrics
"Facebook Song"
Recorded by Rhett and Link
Written by Link Neal & Rhett McLaughlin
I wouldn't call myself a social butterfly
And there's not much that separates me from the other guy
But when I login I begin to live
There's an online world where I am king
Of a little website dedicated to me
With pictures of me and a list of my friends
And an unofficial record of the groups that I'm in.
Before the internet friendship was so tough
You actually had to be in peoples' presence and stuff
Who would've thought that with a point and a click
I could know that Hope Floats is your favorite flick (harry connick jr.?)
I used to meet girls hangin' out at the mall,
But now I just wait for them to write on my wall.
(Its more than a want, it's more than a need;
I'd shrivel up and die without my minifeed)
Oh Link's status changed. it says he's playing the recorder...
How do you know this person?
Did you hook up with this person?
Do you need to request confirmation?
If the internet crashed all across the land
Or my Facebook account was deleted by the man
I'd carry around a picture of my face
And a summary of me typed out on a page
I'm hooked on face book
It's more than a want
It's more than a need
I'd shrivel up and die without my minifeed
Take a look (you are hooked)
Take a look
On Facebook book book book
booooooooooooooook
