Who doesn’t know it? Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and the list goes on. Social media has become an indispensable part of our lives. Yet do these channels need to be adapted?
Many of the social media operate on the principle of algorithms. Because of the algorithms, social media users are shown posts that they interact with the most. For example, if someone views and likes a lot of posts about cooking, then they will be offered similar cooking content. This, of course, leads to much satisfaction among users. However, this principle might also work in the opposite direction with violent consequences.
Have you ever heard of the so-called ‘rabbit hole’? It implies that a person enters a downward spiral because the algorithms only recommend certain content. This may sound a bit vague and not dangerous at all, but this will be explained more concretely using an example from the United Kingdom. A British teenager constantly viewed posts on Instagram about self-harm and committing suicide. She got into a rabbit hole and, partly because of this, ended up committing suicide. At that point, an investigation was started, and it revealed that it was indeed the case that several teens had hurt themselves because of what they faced on social media.
Not all victims felt that social media and algorithms should be blamed for this. On the contrary, they were very supportive of social media. Through the channels, they got to know people who were struggling with the same problems. Because they were able to talk to each other about this, many lives were also saved.
Social media channels like Instagram are now facing this dilemma; should they address everything? Or should they not make any changes? Recently, the company said it was going to pay more attention to it but also wanted users to connect with each other. What is and is not possible remains a bit of a grey area, but at least it is being investigated.
What do you think? Is social media helpful or harmful?
Sources:
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-algorithms/
https://www.wired.com/story/when-algorithms-think-you-want-to-die/
https://www.at5.nl/artikelen/202015/online-platform-voor-lhbtiers-biedt-steun-in-tijden-van-corona
What an inspiring blogpost Emi! Indeed, social media and the respective algorithms used on these platforms have a significant influence on our mental health and well-being within our society. Even democracies have the potential to be destabilized due to the immense influence of socials and their manipulative powers, which strengthen our social media addictions. It was seen by the depolarization between the republicans and democrats in the US due to YouTube recommendations that led people into this described ‘rabbit hole’. The documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’ gives great insights about the matter and is worth watching! https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Dilemma
I think social media is a very interesting topic and there is so much to discuss about it. Mainly because it has grown so rapidly over the past decade and nowadays plays such an important part in most people’s lives. Like Joy mentioned, The Social Dilemma is a very interesting documentary that in depth and – more importantly – in an easy way explain the principle of algorithms. While I believe social media has so many positive sides, I do also believe there can be a lot of danger within social media platforms, like the example the British teenager you mentioned. I therefore think it is extremely important to educate children on how social media works and how it can influence things. Especially since these children grow up in a world where social media is present in so many aspects of life. They should learn about the positive things social media could do, like raise awareness for movements, but they should also learn about the dangers and the power these companies have. A documentary, like The Social Dilemma, would for example be a good resource for this.
Hey!
You point out some critical negative effects of social media. However, I do not think the dilemma “Social media channels like Instagram are now facing this dilemma; should they address everything? Or should they not make any changes?” is limited to those two options.
In my opinion, it is not the mere responsibility of Social Media platforms itself to prevent the negative effects of these Rabbit Holes. I think it is also the responsibility of each individual person to be aware of the ways these systems work and to absorb information from various sources. Of course the examples like you describe should be avoided at all costs, but I think a greater danger lies in allowing social media platforms to actively meddle in what should be shown and what not.
Because what starts out as good initiative to prevent the worst case examples as you mentioned, could also allow the active censorship of news and (political) views by commercial organisations. More transparency in how these systems work in the form of education is needed, but lets be wary of too much meddling in what is ‘good and wrong’ to show.
Kind regards,
Marijn
555004mw
Interesting post, and thank you for bringing light on the subject of social media’s sensitive nature, which I feel is still a social media dilemma. Furthermore, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, people’s reliance on the internet and online social worlds has grown more sensitive throughout the world, with people relying more on the internet and online social worlds than on physical and offline ones. As social media platforms are more likely to be for-profit businesses where the majority of the content is marketable and aimed at profit, I believe that the best method to avoid falling down the social media rabbit hole should be treated by the technology itself through improved screening algorithms. As social media firms like Facebook and Instagram have created algorithms that can recognize negative-influenced postings like excessive violence or those that induce suicide and blocking at the source. In addition to the work of social media firms to create a more sustainable online world, governments and relevant organizations should modify legislation to make those harmful posts unlawful and to support the online environment become more sustainable. As the globe has entered an era of social media, online, and contact-free society, the world must keep up with the times and satisfy the required needs, as well as assist the people and provide safe guidelines. Thank you again for the interesting heads-up, and I am very interested in these topics, and will love to hear more about your thoughts. Cheers!
Interesting post Emi! Social media has indeed become a very important part of our lives. We could not image a world without anymore. Nowadays, the influence and power of algorithms is huge and has both positive and negative sides. Digital offerings are information-enriched customer solutions delivered as seamless, personalized experiences. The algorithms make digital offerings more personalized and this process is extremely valuable to us. Digital offerings introduce new business models and provide new sources of revenue, e.g. think of Netflix. On the other hand, algorithms do have negative effects as well. Are algorithms the cause of internet addiction? The major cause of social media addiction is the lack of any kind of supervision. There is content on the internet which is not suitable for some age groups. However, there is no algorithm which filters such content so that it will be suitable for the user to view. Therefore, it is extremely important to educate children on how it works and how it can actually influence your life. The article gives insights in the prediction of addiction to social media;
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8869399
Hi, the influence of social media is a nice topic that everyone can relate to. I would like to comment on the positive aspect of social media, in that it provides the opportunity to connect with like-minded people. The opportunity to unite is indeed one of the added values that social media provide. However, the opportunity to unite also has destabilizing potential in the democracy, especially in conjunction with the emergence of fake news. For instance, the curfew riots that took place last year were organized and stimulated in social media groups. The police force needed to pull out all the stops to keep these riots under control. If discontent grows in society and say 100k people would join the riots, this would be a serious problem. Hence, I am seriously worried about these developments because I think the emergence of fake news could catalyze these riots. Anyone any thoughts on this or how policy could help mitigate these negative aspects of social media?