FINAL BLOG POST: The Pros and Cons to a Non-Personal Life Because of Technology and Social Media
The Pros and Cons to a Non-Personal Life Because of Technology and Social Media
Social Media has taken the world by storm. And while we now have everything we ever need at our fingertips, we have also started to see that individuals have become more dependent on their phones in their everyday life. There is no chance for individuals to "unplug" because of the dependency built around a little vibration or a text tone sound that we receive multiple times a day. It starts to bring about the questions, do we as individuals actually have control over the technology and social media apps that are in our life? Or do they have control over us?
How Much Does Technology Actually Consume Our Daily Lives?
I wanted to start off this blog post with some staggering statistics before actually going more in depth into the Pros and Cons of technology and social media. In an article posted by People Magazine, they stated that according to Vision Direct, "The average U.S. adult will spend the equivalent of 44 years of their life staring at screens." 44 YEARS. They then went on to say that, "Polling of 2,000 adults in the U.S. found more than 6,259 hours a year are spent glued to gadgets such as phones, laptops and televisions. The equates to an astonishing 382,652 hours and 48 minutes over the average adult lifetime of 607 years."
Not only does this increase in usage effect how we interact in our daily lives, but now younger generations are also becoming glued to technology. We are allowing younger and younger individuals to have access to social media, while they are not developed enough mentally to know what is right and wrong. They are posting videos and photos and leaving their online footprint at such a young age that it is going to come back and haunt them, if it hasn't already done so.
While an article from Statista.com states that, "As of 2018, some 48 states have passed cyberbullying laws, most of them including criminal sanctions for electronic harassment." children will do anything from behind a screen because they know they will not feel the immediate consequences for doing so. Anyone can hide behind a screen, even adults, but the staggering statistics for suicide based on cyberbullying is more than enough information to know that in recent years, technology and social media has started to have control over us.
Pros and Cons of Social Media
Now that I have scared you a little bit with how much you actually look at your phone and social media apps, and how tour actions over social media do have consequences, even if they are not immediate, I wanted to bring about some of the positives that come with being apart of such a connected time.
1) Improved Communication
Over time, and with the way technology has advanced, we are now able to talk to anyone in the world with a couple clicks. Through FaceTime, Groupme, and other applications on our phone, there is no charge that comes with talking to someone on the other side of the world. We also cannot talk about improved communication without also mentioning how the Pandemic has allowed companies and individuals to rely heavily on these apps to connect them to their employees and loved ones in times of lockdown and remote working.
2) Better Information Access
With smart phones turning into our own personal computers in our pocket, we are able to access any information we want at any given point. Google, Twitter, Facebook and other apps allow us the opportunity to stay up to date on recent events with the click of a button. There is no more searching through books at the library, or waiting until you got home to use your personal desktop, if you had one, to receive up to date and live information on different things happening in the world.
With both of these positives being said, especially the second one, there are two massive cons that come with the advancement of technology and social media:
VIRTUAL SOCIAL LIVES AND DECREASED PRIVACY
1) Virtual Social Lives
"Social media can be fun, but studies have show that it can have a detrimental effect on our mental health. It's so bad, in fact, that some governments are calling for social media companies to be more responsible -- especially when it comes to younger users. A study in the UK found that 46% of young girls reported that social media had a negative impact on their self esteem, so clearly there's a lot to fix." As I said earlier, we are becoming glued to our phones. We look at what others are doing, and if it seems more appealing, or if the individual seems "happier" because of what they posted, we are going to try and follow in their footsteps. We are a society who does not like to stand out, or feel like we are missing out on something. There are so many influencers who will post photos looking unhealthy skinny, or post workout routines that are not meant for children whose bodies are developing still, and the children will look up to them because of the following that they have. They will talk about the latest celebrities and what they are doing, and then try to follow in their footsteps because they believe that their lives will be just like the celebrities if they do these things. Younger children will also bash others who do not fit the typical mold we have shaped for society based on what social media has "taught us". As I said in my last section, cyberbullying has taken over, leading to higher suicide rates, and making it so that our social media, and the individuals behind the screen control us rather than us controlling the amount of social media we take in. All of these are issues that have only just recently escalated because of the overwhelming rise of social media and the impact it has had on our society.
2) Decreased Privacy
I wanted to bring this point up because it perfectly leads into my next section. SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT PRIVATE! It never has been. Although you set your account to be on private so that other individuals within the app may not be able to see your profile or information, the companies have already taken it when you signed and accepted the Terms and Agreements. Everything you do on that app now is their information to know, and yours not to know that they are taking it. "Evert move we make online is recorded, and we leave digital footprints wherever we visit. Hackers and scammers know this, and work are to exploit it for financial gain." It is not only hackers and scammers who exploit individuals information for financial gain. The companies themselves also do this because they want to target ads towards you. They take your information, sell it, and that is how you are able to receive a customized feed that you will enjoy. While there are steps you can take to protect your information, such as downloading a VPN, or a Virtual Private Network, more than likely individuals do not know where to begin when trying to download one, or even know that they exist. It is a constant battle now with technology trying to keep yourself and your information safe, while also staying connected to those around you and receiving information at your fingertips.
Is Your Social Media Really on "Private"?
One of the biggest issues that has started to arise with the growing use of technology and social media is individuals personal lives. When you have a "private" account, you're not actually private. When signing up for apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tik Tok you are waving your rights for these applications to take all of the information you submit, post about, and even the ads and news articles you click on when you are scrolling through your timeline.
In one of the articles it stated, "The database included column labels suggesting the data included Facebook user ID's and names, friends, likes, photos, events, groups, location check-ins, and other profile data, including favorite music, books, movies, and interests. There was also a "Password" column, but the passwords were "presumably for the 'At the Pool' app rather than for the user's Facebook account."
The issue that arises with this last part of the quote, taken out of an article from ARS Technica, is that although these passwords were not for user's specific Facebook pages, individuals use the same password across different websites. It would be very easy to use this information they have to log into other account and steal more information from these individuals than they even know.
And the kicker with all of this, my Facebook is currently hacked, I have reached out to the company multiple times to try and get it back, and since my phone number, email, and password was changed, my next step was to SEND THEM A PHOTO OF MY LICENSE so that they could verify it was me and reach back out to me in 2 days with updated information. It has been almost a week, I still do not have my account back, and they now have a picture of my divers license.
My Own Personal Reflection on my Social Media Usage
My connection, and the personal impact social media and technology has had on me, is not much different than others. I am an individual who has my phone on me 24/7, and I rely heavily on social media apps such as Twitter to receive all of my information to keep me connected with what is going on in the world. I would like to say that my relationship with technology is healthier than it has been in the past, but there are times when I will still catch myself comparing myself and what I post to what others are posting on their feeds or timelines. I personally feel that for a moment in my life, technology made me very self-conscious about who I was and I tried to find ways to make myself look like those who I saw on my feed constantly. When I am bored, I go on my phone. When I want to show my friends something, I pull out my phone. When I need the answer to a question that I have quickly, I pull out my phone. While I do think that phones help us stay informed and are great for gathering quick tidbits of information when we need it, we cannot fully rely on our phones and technology to give us all of the correct answers. I do believe that we gain knowledge of valuable information from our phones, but at the same time, it is starting to get to the point where individuals will believe anything they see that pops up on their phone, and the term "Clickbait" is becoming a more and more commonly used term.
I also have a different connection with social media and technology when it comes to the footprint that I have left. I did Film and Television acting for 9 years of my life. One quick search of my name "Kayli Tolleson" and this is what pops up:
My footprint has already been left on social media and technology platforms from a young age. Part of me does not enjoy that I am all over Google when you search my name. My friends and anyone that knows me, or doesn't know me, can see everything I have done from 2009-2018. It does somewhat affect my relationships with people because there are times that my friends find out on their own, or when I was actively involved in Film and Television, that is all my friends would talk about with me. I didn't necessarily have the "normal childhood" to a certain extent because of my Film and Television work. Part of me though, now that I have gotten older, really enjoys that from a young age I had to hold myself to a certain standard because of the position I was in as an actress. I learned at a very young age that anything you do on social media can be traced back to you, and I was able to learn how to filter out certain things in my social media life that I knew individuals, such as employers, should not be seeing.
In Conclusion
We as a society need to be more aware of what is actually happening when we use social media and technology. We spend so much time entranced in these apps, but we still are not properly taught or told the implications of our actions on them. This course really opened my eyes to all that comes with our privacy being violated on social media. It has also opened my eyes to how healthy my relationship with technology actually is. I feel that I have a healthy relationship when it comes to being able to turn off my phone, and not letting social media get the best of me 24/7, but I have an unhealthy relationship when knowing what all happens behind the scenes of websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I am starting to become more aware of what is happening thanks to this course, and I am starting to reevaluate the way I look at advancing technology and social media as a whole. I am not necessarily scared of technology itself, but I am now scared, and if nothing else, more aware of what is going on from a technological standpoint.
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