By Krystof Gonzalez,
Staff Writer.
Social media has long been regarded as at minimum harmful to our mental health and, by some, even toxic. This toxicity is known to affect many parts of our lives, altering the way we perceive the world. But what makes this happen, and how can it be avoided?
The primary reason for the toxicity of social media stems from the infinite dopamine hits, aiming to trap you in the highly addictive feedback loop. There are many potential solutions for solving the issues surrounding it, mostly involving self-reflection and consideration of how the platforms work and a removal of the protections the companies lobbied for in the law.
One example of social media toxicity is that it often provokes jealousy and creates low self-esteem by comparing people to others, making them feel like they’re not worthy enough or are failing because they don’t have the portrayed qualities of the people they see. This is largely because social media is a snapshot of life, and not the full picture as one would see in person. Senior William Do said, “You only see people’s good moments.” This is expected behavior as everyone wants to be seen in the best light, but it can have dangerous side effects. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and others depict people as perfect, making reality seem completely upscaled online and giving the average person a sense of inadequacy.
One easily implemented though partial solution to avoid this loop in social media is restricting yourself to subsets of the apps and allocating specific time to use it. Limiting yourself to a subset of an app will allow you to use the parts of the app you actually want to use and enjoy them. Furthermore, it will reduce the overall amount of time spent on the app, and the amount of time exposed to the heat of the platform. But how one would even do this with the intensely specific modern algorithms is beyond our grasp.
Another harmful trait of social media is that it is simply a time waster. Social media hinders a person’s ability to be productive in society and their lives and steals away from activities that could be more fulfilling. Although social media can provide educational information and inform on matters of significance, this falls apart under scrutiny. People generally don’t remember what they learn and because of the limited time in such an interface, the depth of any video is close to nothing. In that time, you could have been learning an instrument, how to cook or developing other hobbies instead of consistently doomscrolling.
In conclusion, when using social media, one must be careful to not let it come to a toxic addiction, and instead, it can be useful as a connecting tool.
