Social Media is Making Us Invisible

It’s 2017, and we are living in the age of social media. It’s been an interesting ride so far; from Facebook to Instagram to Twitter, we’ve seen each platform evolve into its own ecosystem. Unfortunately, in this age where online interaction is beginning to dominate the social realm, we’re seeing more and more people who have 500+ Facebook friends, but no one to hang out with on the weekends. What’s up with that?

Social media is making us invisible. This is a strange statement considering that the potential audience for our online interactions is positively huge, but allow me to explain. Rather than talking directly to those close to us about our days and our frustrations, we’re essentially shouting into the void by posting a Facebook status or a tweet (or several) instead. This effectively puts our online “friends” or followers in charge of making ourselves heard. For example, have you ever posted something that you were excited or passionate about and been disappointed to have gotten little or no response from the online community? Now think about how the response would have differed if you were to have discussed the subject with a close friend or a family member and how that interaction would have made you feel. Believe it or not, exchanging personal interaction with impersonal posts on social media and giving the power to validate or invalidate our thoughts to the online community can take a huge toll on our self-esteem. 

https://pixabay.com/en/smartphone-woman-girl-iphone-569076/

“A study conducted by The University of Gothenburg in Sweden surveyed 335 men and 676 women (average age 32) to help determine the link between self-esteem and Facebook usage. A significant negative relationship between the two was uncovered (as Facebook interaction increased, self-esteem decreased)…” (Source) This is only one of many studies that has been conducted regarding the effects of social media on self-esteem, but they all seem to say the same thing: the more time a person spends on social media, the lower their self-esteem. These results are most commonly attributed to social media users feeling that they’re being ignored/overlooked and the development of an intense tendency to compare oneself to others on social media. This seems a little contradictory with all those “friends” and followers, right?

Sadly, the feeling of being ignored on social media rarely comes from people consciously choosing not to pay attention to certain posts by certain people, rather there is just so much content available on social media platforms that our posts often get scrolled past. InternetLiveStats.com shows how many posts are created on several social media platforms each second in real time, from several thousand to hundreds of thousands, and it is absolutely mind blowing. Thus, the void we’re shouting into when we post gets exponentially larger every second.

Additionally, the major problem that arises with comparing ourselves to others on social media is that nearly everyone tries to present themselves in a flattering light online. In other words, social media usually doesn’t reveal the good, the bad, and the ugly about a person; it typically only reveals the good. Hence, social media users are spending time wishing and striving to be like the online persona of someone, which is often unreal and unattainable.

The thing that I find most interesting about social media is that the original concept was to provide a way for people to stay connected to each other, even from extensive distances, however, we’re seeing more and more developments that make social media more and more impersonal, namely the “like” feature. This feature is great for a platform’s main interface so that users can acknowledge a post that they enjoy without having to take the time to write a comment, but why was this feature integrated into areas like Facebook messenger? Now, instead of writing a response to a person’s message, you can simply click the thumb to “like” a private message. The addition of this impersonal feature could amplify the anxiety users are already facing regarding being ignored or disregarded, and even worse, it is transferred to the previously personal private messaging element.

https://pixabay.com/en/like-facebook-3d-social-networks-1748813/

This is not to postulate that social media is all bad, but social media should be used in moderation, and online interaction should be taken with a grain of salt. It’s important to both our social lives and our mental health to maintain a balance between online interaction and personal interaction, even if that means texting or calling someone instead of meeting face-to-face. And maybe next time you’re tempted to “like” a message, instead think about what you would say to the person if they were in the room, and take a moment to write a quick response. It’s always better to get a message back from your friends, no matter how short, rather than just receiving a big blue thumbs up. Social media may be making us another face in the online crowd, but we have the power to make our voices heard.