As an introvert, my favourite place in the entire world is the internet. Honestly, I found my voice on social media; writing pieces, commenting, creating a network, discovering my strengths and also finding out where I lacked. My blink and miss career in writing is a gift bestowed by social media. Facebook to be precise.
While my consistency wavers, I have been writing on Facebook since 2013 and I will continue, despite the fact that I watched Social Dilemma on Netflix.
While people go on to act like this documentary is the first time they are hearing that social media monitors user activity and sells data to advertisers, let me break down some issues that I have noticed on social media platforms over the years.
Opposite poles stay where they are
Facebook was my gateway to this world of intellectuals, thinkers, writers and journalists. And I often used their knowledge to build my opinions. But you have to understand that everyone comes with a bias. Using Facebook and Youtube as a place to satisfy your own confirmation bias is dangerous.
Facebook does not fact check or verify any post. Even news channels and media agencies are capable of feeding you with misleading and false information. I know it seems like a very privileged thing to say, but take everything with a grain or bag of salt, if necessary. Facebook, Instagram and YouTube do help us identify ads from user content. But still salt, salt and more salt!
I have seen people fuelled by political interests, leading personal attacks on everyone who has a different opinion from them. If your idea of knowledge is to never meet a person with a contrasting opinion, you will never grow. If you mock, ridicule and bully everybody who hasn’t had the chance to learn what you learnt, you will never move an inch from where you are!
You stay there. I stay here.
You keep your opinions. I keep mine.
No opinion is solid. There is always scope to learn, grow and change. Don’t cling to your views. True intelligence is the ability to communicate and understand everyone irrespective of their opinions.
The Like Game
If somebody on Facebook told you that they don’t do this for likes, they are lying. Everybody is in it for the hearts, hahas and wows. And it is extremely easy to be swayed by them. Posting only what people want to see and read. But as a person who creates content actively let me tell you that this is the only free platform that gives you access to such a wide audience.
Use it to create your voice, don’t let it dictate your voice. At times, I have been swayed by populist notions in fear of retribution or bullying and I understand that not everybody can ignore the hate. But the thing to work towards is penetrating hate through logic, reasoning and kindness.
Time Warp
Time vanishes when you are on social media. You scroll on your timeline and look up, 20 minutes are gone. While 20 minutes can look like a small amount of time, when accumulated over years, it is a serious waste of time. Unlike some of us who depend on social media to run our careers, most of them can learn to have time pockets for social media. There are tons of apps but none of them helps you like hard-earned habit building.
If you are a creator who lives on the Internet, follow only pages related to your profession. For example, 90% of the accounts I follow are writing accounts. I do have my guilty pleasure but even when I am whiling away on social media. I would like that time to spark a thought or give me the chance to read some new content.
That frictionless scroll, the timeline flashing before your eyes is like a tentacle octopus, latching its hooks slowly on you.
But there are ways to unhook from it.
Get hooked to life
Put your social media apps in a folder and not right there on the home screen.
Put your phone away in another room if you really have to focus.
Do this until you get a grip on your social media usage.
If you are a creator who lives on the Internet, follow only pages related to your profession. For example, 90% of the accounts I follow are writing accounts. I do have my guilty pleasure but even when I am whiling away on social media. I would like that time to spark a thought or give me the chance to read some fresh content. Strictly no influencers!
If something unrelated pops up on your feed, click the buttons and let Facebook / Instagram know it’s irrelevant to you. Sooner or later, your feed is enriching and not just a time warp where time just vanishes.
Social Dilemma is a great documentary that throws light on how social media works and they must be held responsible for the attention-deficit generation that is constantly bombarded with unverified information. But Social media in a lot of ways mimics the world we live in and not the other way round.
Everyone has a voice on social media. That is both the greatest thing ever and worst thing to happen to our generation too. And let’s be real, nobody is quitting Facebook because of this documentary. While we insist that these companies address such issues on social media.
Let us also create inclusive, hate-free microcosms on social media.
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