Julia Conte
Staff Writer
Who is to blame for the generally agreed upon toxicity of social media: the consumer or the producer?
In recent years, social media usage has grown exponentially, rising from .97 billion smartphone users in 2010 to a staggering 2.96 billion in 2020, according to Statista.com. Social media is embedded in our culture, as modern American life becomes tailored for technology usage in lue of the increasingly mainstream gig economy.
The rise in popularity of the gig economy is providing Generation Z with opportunities to make money in alternate ways, including DoorDash, vlogging or even managing a Premium Snapchat. This commonality has made seismic shakes in our culture, allowing information and goods to be more accessible than ever.
It is a given that technology progresses with time, therefore social media is meant to make aspects of life more convenient for the people using it. These aspects of life might range anywhere between getting some food or finding a life partner.
This convenience is not negative, as it is an achievement in terms of humanities advancements, however the byproducts of the “easy access” nature of these platforms can often affect a user’s psyche. With usage of such platforms on the rise brings opportunity for influencers to manipulate their audiences through their content.
“Some companies are manipulative and deceptive, other companies are much more honest. That’s why we teach business ethics in the marketing curriculum, which is so critical to helping facilitate the consumer’s wants and needs rather than forcing consumers to buy something they don’t want…My hope is that marketers can replace the word ‘manipulate’ with ‘facilitate’ because that means they are doing a good job at helping and not harming the consumer,” said Elizabeth A. Minton, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Wyoming.
Social media has infamously been a catalyst for anxiety and self-criticism, designed in part for the encouragement of materialism, which in turn can result in isolationism.
“Social media is the closest thing we have to marketing ourselves as people, I think it’s only natural to want to show ourselves in the best possible light,” said Owen Stevens, a UW technology management major.
Social media allows people to be in control of their narrative. People are decagonal in the sense that they possess more than a single side. These sides are expressed depending on the situation.
“[People are] displaying an accurate version of themselves, whether that’s the physical “real” self or the digital “real” self. I think they’re both an accurate version of parts of us. Some people have their physical and digital personas more closely aligned and some of them are wildly different, but they’re all part of us,” said Andey Tuttle, a UW computer science major.
“Money can’t buy happiness” is often dismissed as a cliche term with little validity, because certainly financial security would relieve stress in many aspects of a person’s life. Happiness is entirely subjective based on an individual’s values, desires and experiences, making it impossible to measure in a comparable way. However, there is a noticeable correlation between material wealth and social isolationism.
Materialism emerged once the concept of property was introduced to humanity, as people invented agriculture and started to settle, forming civilizations. With these settlements came personal possessions, providing people with a new form of individuality. Thus the concept of “mine” and “not yours” came to being. Due to this separation of self, materialism can often result in isolationism.
“Social media is very isolating for our generation. It’s a very surface level communication that makes deep connections difficult. Also, by not displaying themselves accurately, it makes one feel like they’re alone in their troubles,” said Justice Dunn, a UW psychology major.
As material wealth increases, an individual’s ability to isolate themselves does as well. As more money is accumulated, the opportunity for a larger house, more land, more clothes, etc., becomes increasingly reachable. The more one gains, the more one possesses, which can result in a gradual process of isolationism.
“Social media can be a vital form of communication for brands with ease of targeting specific consumers that are most interested in a product, but it also has deleterious effects at the same time. Research shows that it makes consumers more self-conscious and at times more depressed given the need to portray a certain (possibly false) image on social media as well as in seeing others that seemingly have the perfect life,” said Minton. “To be most effective, people need to regularly do a clean sweep of their social media, unfollowing or muting posts that are negative, decrease one’s view of one’s self or are otherwise not nourishing to one’s self-esteem. Marketers need to be particularly careful that posts fulfill this fit to one’s self and their self-esteem.”
Nothing is entirely good or bad, as everything has context. Social media has advanced and connected our culture while simultaneously isolating us by encouraging materialism and providing opportunity for self-criticism through the comparison of others’ appearances and experiences. The only thing really worth living for is genuine human connection, and that should be striven for, whether that be digitally or interpersonally.
