Social Media

Real Talk Philosophy Artwork

Introductory Discussion Questions

• What are the primary benefits and detriments of social media?

• How would your life be different without social media? How would society be different?

• Should young children have social media access? How is social media access different for them?

• Why has social media become such a large part of society? Is it fulfilling some sort of human need?

• What will the “future” of social media look like? Do you think it will be a permanent part of society?

Social Media Usage Statistics

These figures come from the We Are Social Digital 2020 Report. We Are Social found that in July 2020: Of nearly 7.8 billion people, more than 5 billion have cellphones. 4.5 billion people use the internet and nearly 4 billion people have Social Media accounts. Around 80% of the populations of the USA, Northern Europe, and Southeast Asia use social media. Compared to 12-14% in Middle and Eastern Africa.  Around the world, the average internet using adult spent 6 hours and 45 minutes online, more than 2 hours of which spent on Social Media. Of Social Media users, 99% use Social Media for messaging, 88% engaged in public posts, and 40% use social media for work. The average internet user has nearly 9 social media accounts between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Facebook is the most popular social media site, with more than 2.6 billion monthly active users, followed by YouTube and WhatsApp with 2 billion users, then WeChat, Instagram, Tiktok, and more. 

Addiction

One of the primary concerns about Social Media is its addictive nature. The first key concept we must understand when exploring the nature of Social Media addiction is the attention economy. The term “The Attention Economy” tends to refer to the supply and demand of a person's attention, which is the commodity traded by internet companies. Platforms sell advertizing space. User attention/engagement has been described as their currency and Social Media companies are able to keep us glued to our screens with: Push notifications. Whereas in the past we had to make an active choice to check our email, Facebook, etc.; now we receive notifications of incoming messages and updates. Also, Infinite scroll and autoplay. When scrolling websites, it used to be that we would reach the bottom of the page and we’d have to click the 1, 2, 3, etc. to continue. And this would act as a natural pausing/stopping point. Now with infinite scroll, there’s no natural moment that feels like a stopping point. The Public Library of the Sciences has found that the average Facebook user would require $1,000 - $2,000 to give up Facebook for a year. 

Intermittent Variable Reward

To keep us addicted to our devices, Social Media companies employ tricks developed by casinos. One such trick is referred to as intermittent variable reward, an addiction technique inspired by casinos. Intermittent means sporadic or not at regular intervals. Variable means the reward is of inconsistent value. Sometimes moot, sometimes good, and sometimes phenomenal. Intermittent variable reward, then, refers to a reward for an action that is of inconsistent value, given at irregular intervals. Casinos found that this sort of reward-giving is most addictive. When playing slot machines, a reward is not given every time the arm is pulled, only some of time. And the reward is not consistent, but sometimes big and sometimes small. On Facebook, when we “pull down to reload,” we sometimes receive a new notification, and sometimes we do not. And the notification is sometimes moot (a stranger commented on a stranger’s photo) and sometimes very important (a close high-school friend just got engaged). This is not random. This is intentional. You may have noticed that it has become standard to “swipe down” to reload a page. This also was inspired directly from slot machines. 

One other keyword to know here is Variable Latency. When you swipe down to reload your Facebook newsfeed, sometimes you’ll be shown a notification immediately. Sometimes the red notification icon will not appear for 2 or 3 seconds. We may assume that this is the app downloading content. But no. The app has already downloaded the content in the background. That wait time is intentional. Researchers found that forcing people to wait at variable time intervals makes them more addicted. The anticipation of the notification, and the dopamine hit when it finally arrive

Depression, Anxiety, and Suicide related to social media use

Mental health and social media

Do you believe that social media makes you more depressed? First, though we may all intuitively assume that social media negatively impacts mental health, studies paint a rather complicated picture. There’s clearly a correlation between heavy internet use and depression, anxiety, and suicide. But, according to a 2014 review of the literature from the Journal of Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, there is very little data showing “causation” between Social Networking Site usage and depression, anxiety, or suicide. The literature appears to indicate that existing tendencies of depression and anxiety may exacerbate existing depressive tendencies and that depressive tendencies may result in increased Social Media use. 

Of the factors that may increase depression as a result of Social Media Use, the authors of the review indicate that social network use may replace real interactions. From the article, “Although social networks enable an individual to interact with a large number of people, these interactions are shallow and cannot adequately replace everyday face-to-face communication. This tendency is referred to as Displaced Behavior Theory. That is, people who spend more time in sedentary behaviors such as social media use have less time for face-to-face social interaction, both of which have been proven to be protective against mental disorders. According to another literature review from the online journal Cureus, Social Media use also creates pressure on the individual to embody in real-life a stereotype version of themselves, just so they can take photos and receive likes, comments, and shares online. This, in turn, then tends to create a competitive atmosphere around popularity. People engaging in social interactions not because they enjoy them, but because they want to appear more popular online.

According to a 2019 review of the literature on Social Media Use and Mental Health, published in the Journal of Current Opinion in Psychiatry, there does appear to be a strong correlation between suicide and frequency of social media use as social media users are more susceptible to cyber-bullying and insomnia. Although there’s a clear correlation, a causal link between Social Media usage and suicide is still unclear. Would the people who are likely to become victims of cyber-bullying still be more likely to suffer from insomnia or attempt suicide, even if they never engaged in Social Media? Other studies focusing on general internet use found that, though heavy internet usage is correlated to a higher suicide rate, “‘occasional internet users’ had the lowest rate of attempted suicide… These results indicate that some degree of internet use may be beneficial.”

Pantic’s 2014 literature review also found inconclusive, conflicting data regarding Social Media use and self-image. Some studies showed positive correlation, others showed negative correlation. At the extreme end of the spectrum, many studies have found a strong correlation between Heavy Social Media Usage and negative self-satisfaction. However, it’s unclear whether or not people with negative self-satisfaction are just more likely to be heavy social media users. The link between Social Media use and negative self-esteem has been summarized in what’s known as Objective self-awareness theory. “Any stimulus causing the self to become the object (instead the subject) of the consciousness will lead to a diminished impression of the self (looking into a mirror, hearing one’s own voice, etc.).” 

Discussion questions

• Does social media have an overall positive or negative effect on society?

• Are the problems of social media “by design”, or in how we use it? Who is to blame for these problems?

• Does social media “bring out the worst” in people? Do you notice an effect on you?

• Have you ever felt “addicted” to social media? How does this compare to other addictions?

• How does anonymity affect us and our behaviors? Does this speak to our character?

Polarization, Extremism, and Genocide

One of the major concerns about Social Media is its tendency to result in political polarization, and the potential for extremism, and in some unique cases, genocide.

In her 2018 New York Times article, “The Great Radicalizer,” technology and sociology writer Zeynep Tufekci predicted, “YouTube may be one of the most powerful radicalizing instruments of the 21st century.” And Zeynep’s prediction may be correct. 

YouTube’s algorithms lead viewers to videos that have received lots of “engagement,” - that is, views, comments, and shares. The next video in an auto-play list is most likely to be viewed if it is divisive, but not too divisive. YouTube watchers are most attracted to content that pushes them slightly further towards an extremist view. Now, it’s important to note that humans did not discover the correlation between watch-time and divisive content; Google’s algorithms did. According to YouTube, 70% of watched videos are recommended by algorithms. A 2019 study by BuzzFeed News found that a new YouTube account can be led to conspiracy theory videos in just 6 autoplays. 64% of people in extremist Facebook groups join because of AI group suggestions. 

According to a 2017 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, of 1/2 million tweets studied, each moral or emotional word used increases its reach by 20%, on average. According to a 2017 study conducted by the PEW Research Center, posts including what they refer to as “indignant disagreement” receive nearly twice as much engagement (likes and shares) as other types of content on Facebook. So humans online are attracted to divisive, angry, hateful content. And in response, the AI algorithms, which are designed to increase time spent on each site, sort divisive content higher in our newsfeed. 

Use of social platforms as sources of news

Another major concern is that so many people use Social Media as their primary source of news. Around the world, an average of 38% of people in each country say they can trust most news outlets most of the time. On average, 22% of people in countries around the world say they trust most of the news on Social Media most of the time. Still, about half of people around the world report feeling concerned about which content is real and which content is fake on Social Media. 

And we’ve seen false information spread on Social Media in countries all over the world.

• USA: Disinformation spread by Russia on Facebook in the 2016 US presidential campaign

• Sri Lanka: Disinformation on Facebook sparking violence between Buddhists and Muslims

• The Philippines: Duterte’s disinformation campaigns

• Iran: Spreading anti-American disinformation through Facebook 

• India: Bipartisan disinformation campaigns leading up to elections

One particularly upsetting example involves the ongoing genocide in Myanmar. The Rohingya are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group residing in Rakhine State, Myanmar. They were described by the UN as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. In 2016, a brutal campaign began to force the Rohingya out of their homes. It has been estimated that there were roughly 1 million Rohingya living in Myanmar before the crisis. Around 700,000 Rohingya have been forced to leave their homes, as of July 2018, making this the largest forced migration since WWII. According to the UN reports, there have been arson attacks, gang rapes, infanticide, and extrajudicial killings of the Rohingya people in Myanmar. There have been landmines planted along the border and mobs of armed Rakhine Buddhists patrolling the border. It has been speculated that Myanmar is on the brink of genocide and the UN referred to the crisis as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

Facebook in Myanmar

So, what is the relationship between the ethnic cleansing campaign in Myanmar? To set the background, as of 2010, about .25% of Burmese citizens had internet access. By 2016, this increased to 25%. A 100x increase. Many Burmese skipped the technological evolution from landline phones to dial-up internet, to DSL, etc., and instead went right to cellphones with Facebook. In Myanmar, Facebook is preinstalled on most phones. Its use is not charged against most data plans. "People in Myanmar use 'internet' and 'Facebook' interchangeably.” 18 million monthly active users in Myanmar. After creation, Facebook later detects that 3-4% of MAUs worldwide are fake

Facebook posts in Myanmar collected by Reuters and the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley School of Law found “Poisonous posts call the Rohingya or other Muslims dogs, maggots and rapists, suggest they be fed to pigs, and urge they be shot or exterminated. The material also includes crudely pornographic anti-Muslim images” being spread.  The UN has recognized that "Facebook has been a useful instrument for those seeking to spread hate”

Government’s propaganda campaign

5 anonymous government officials interviewed by the New York Times reported that the Burmese government was responsible for the creation of hundreds of fake Facebook accounts, posing as news organizations, celebrities, war heroes, and others. After receiving many friends and followers, these accounts would begin posting lurid photos, false news, and inflammatory claims. These accounts were also used to leave negative comments on posts criticizing the Burmese military. The death toll is estimated to be more than 24,000 

Facebook’s original motto was “move fast and break things”. Now, Facebook has been implementing strategies.

Proposed solutions

Personal solutions

There have also been a number of personal solutions proposed. 

• Turning on Airplane Mode 

• Or Do Not Disturb so notifications come through less often.

• Or using iOS Screen Time to monitor which apps you’re using most.

• In Google Chrome you can install Kill My Newsfeed, which will allow you to use Facebook but will remove your Newsfeed. 

• There’s also the Self Control app that you can install on any computer to set a time limit on certain websites or block them entirely. 

• Some people suggest turning their phones to Grayscale, so the colors don’t suck them in.

• And many people are starting to turn off notifications completely. 

• Turning off auto-play. And not watching recommended videos on YouTube. 

• But perhaps most importantly, always check the sources of information you read, especially before sharing it. 

Corporate solutions

Also, there are many solutions that would involve the corporations providing this content. As of Jan 2019, YouTube says it will promote fewer videos containing misinformation and conspiracy theories - what they refer to as “borderline content.” In addition, they will employ a mixture of human moderators and machine learning systems. Although there are some remaining questions. Exactly which kinds of videos will be deemed borderline? And how does YouTube define what is “true”

Discussion questions

• Should social media companies be held responsible for user content and behaviors? How?

• How do you think social media affects our identities (of both “self” and “other”)? 

• How trusting are you of news from social media? How do you decide what is true or false?

• What do you think would help “fix” social media’s ills (disconnection, misinformation, polarization, etc.)?

• Can social media ever be a primarily positive force/tool? What could we do to achieve this?

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