A short summary of some of the key benefits and drawbacks that Social Media has on society.
Note that the effects of Social Media on society can vary widely from platform to platform. Certain platforms might provide a net benefit to society (e.g. some might say YouTube), while others might provide a net negative effect on society (e.g. some might say Twitter/X).
Benefits
Some of the key benefits of social media for society:
- Learning: Online learning videos on YouTube.
- Learn about anything you want? In the form of easy-to-understand videos? Yes, please!
- In my opinion, this is one of the greatest things about the modern internet.
- Group chats
- Very handy for all sorts of social groups (e.g. friendship groups, families, work groups, etc…)
Drawbacks
Some of the key drawbacks of social media:
- Increasing political polarisation:
- This was an unintended effect of the decision to use advertising revenue to monetise Social Media — i.e. polarising viewpoints get more clicks, so Social Media platforms proliferate polarising viewpoints ahead of moderate viewpoints.
- bla…
Why technical fixes to Social Media’s drawbacks don’t work
The above Social Media drawbacks have been known about for some time, and it has always been technically possible to fix these issues.
However, Social Media companies have repeatedly chosen not to fix these issues. This may be because they are incentivised not to fix them, since the Attention Economy ensures that the companies will receive more money if users are more enraged and spend more time on their platforms.
Mixed Bag
Some effects of Social Media are a real mixed bag, with both positive and negative elements:
- Connection:
- Increases online connection,
- Can decrease real-world connection.
- bla…
Are Feeds the primary problem?
It’s possible that feeds specifically