THE QUESTION:
HOW HAS SOCIAL MEDIA BECOME A POWERFUL AND UNIQUE MEDIUM IN THE REALM OF HUMAN INTERACTION?
by Paige Ringelberg
This question addresses an unsolved problem we appear to have created ourselves (much like many of our problems, in fact). We have become so reliant on social media, even though it can end up hurting us. Those negative impacts include anything from harming mental health to spreading false information. But we have gotten to the point that if our society were to scrap social media altogether, we would really struggle. We wouldn’t be able to communicate in a way that has become an everyday standard, we'd lose a huge marketing strategy, and so much more. Social media is also a way for us to communicate with friends and build relationships, as well as educate ourselves, promote awareness of important issues, and simply pass the time! So, while social media hurts us, it's also helping us. Can we really have one without the other?
This webpage will serve to analyze some potential pros and cons (some that have cropped up most often in research, and some that are from personal observations made by myself and others) of social media and the role it plays in multiple areas of society and life, including:
MARKETING
EDUCATION
INFLUENCE ON THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
and GENERAL COMMUNICATION
And, at the end, we will look back at all the arguments we've made (and even retackle a few!), as well as attempt to answer the fateful question: "What now?"
LET'S GET STARTED...
While most people immediately think of just the major platforms when they think of "social media," it can also be thought of as "another type of digital marketing channel that marketers can use to communicate with consumers through advertising" (Appel et al. 2020). Think about each time you use social media. How many times do you see the word "sponsored" under someone's username on Instagram or Facebook? How many times are you watching your friends' stories on Snapchat and an ad pops up? In fact, Facebook makes most of its money through advertising; "in the third quarter of 2020, Facebook stated that 10 million active advertisers were using the social networking platform to promote their products and services" (Chen 2021). Instagram is also a huge marketing tool, with "90% of US marketers [naming] Instagram as the most important social media platform for influencer marketing."
So what are the pros and cons?
PROS
- social media is a great and convenient way for businesses to promote their products and services
- advertisements are easily accessible and often catered to what you're interested in
- it increases brand awareness, inbound traffic (new customers), brand authority, and, very often, sales
- builds more trust and more of a relationship between the consumer and the business
CONS
- ads are dominating! It's extremely difficult to avoid them, no matter where you are on the internet or within social media
- anyone can post negative comments about the product/service for anyone and everyone to see
- whatever is on the Internet stays on the Internet forever, whether it's a negative comment or a mistake in an advertisement
- consumers can feel like their privacy is threatened when they constantly see ads pop up for products they'd looked at elsewhere, or products they have absolutely no interest in
Social media has become an absolutely integral tool for businesses in the marketing and advertising realm. Without it, they are far behind in reaching their customers and increasing awareness of their products and services. This can lead to an annoying number of ads that pop up everywhere, and that are strangely the exact thing you and a friend were talking about earlier that day... It raises these privacy concerns, but can still be incredibly useful and effective, especially when the product is actually something we're interested in.
Believe it or not, social media even plays a role in the realm of education. I mean, why not? So many school age people these days are on social media, so why shouldn't schools and its teachers figure out a way to incorporate it into their lessons? Because of social media, "students can benefit from online tutorials through YouTube, online courses delivered by universities abroad through Skype and a wide array of resources that are shared through social networks" (Nasta 2019). After the COVID-19 pandemic, social media became even more integral to education, mainly because of the way it can connect people. Students are also using social media as a resource for their research. It has become such an important part of our everyday lives that it's almost harder to leave it out.
TIME FOR THOSE PROS AND CONS...
PROS
- social media is familiar to many students, so integrating it into lesson plans can "increase students’ motivation and engagement in various content areas." For example, "using social media for digital storytelling in an English class helped students embrace their creativity" (Greenhow et al. 2019)
- it "can facilitate students’ collaboration" and enhance "their connections to communities;" these connections can help students "create safe spaces where they can share, explore identities, and risk making mistakes."
- it provides easier access to educational resources, whether it's CrashCourse and Khan Academy on YouTube, or following experts in specific fields on Instagram
- schools can create accounts that students can like or follow, creating stronger school spirit
CONS
- social media serves as a major distraction to students while they're in class, and a time suck when outside of class (time they could be using to work on assignments)
- while bullying exists in the real world, cyberbullying can easily happen in the shadows and sometimes be more brutal without the schools even noticing
- it takes away from the face-to-face aspect of the classroom, resulting in students losing valuable real-life skills; "for development of personal relationships and social life, students need to be efficiently expressing themselves and meeting with others in person" (Morrison 2020)
- it makes it easier for students to cheat, and they can be fooled by misinformation that's hard to prove or disprove
Because social media has become an everyday part of our lives, it's no surprise that social media is being integrated into education. It can enhance the students' learning by bringing in something they're already very familiar with and turning it into a learning tool. But it can also serve as a distraction from the learning because it's so easy to access other parts of social media that aren't educational (or appropriate).
Social media has had an enormous impact on the youth. Children have grown up with social media, watching it evolve at a breakneck pace, while others have grown up not even knowing a life without social media. It is used as a way to form connections with their friends and have access to information (whether it's funny memes or updates on what's going on across the world). These days, depending on where you live, it's rare to see an adolescent or young adult that doesn't have an account with some platform or doesn't use any type of social media. Social media has also largely affected the mental health of this younger generation, both in positive and negative ways.
SOME PROS AND CONS
PROS
- adolescents and young adults can easily make connections through social media, whether it's following a friend on Instagram, reconnecting with family over Facebook, finding a group on Twitter that shares a passion they have, or recreating someone's dance routine on TikTok that they admire
- social media can be an opportunity to foster self-growth, self-expression, and self-identity (Sadagheyani and Tatari 2020)
- when used correctly, it can be a tool for staying up-to-date on current events, trending topics, funny memes, and more
- people suffering from mental health problems can turn to social media "to share their illness experiences or seek advice from others with similar health conditions," referred to as "peer-to-peer support" (Naslund et al. 2016)
CONS
- social media is extremely addictive and can take up a lot of a person's time everyday
- time spent on social media can result in an increase in feelings of "anxiety, depression, [and] loneliness" (Sadagheyani and Tatari 2020), and it can lead to poor sleep quality, body image dissatisfaction, a fear of missing out (FOMO), and decreased life satisfaction
- the younger generation can lose real-life social skills that are integral to growth and development, all because they're spending so much time on social media and the Internet
- people can face cyberbullying and extreme pressures on social media, such as pressures to look, act, and think a certain way
While social media has become a huge part of our younger generation's lives, it can be both beneficial and detrimental to them and their mental health. As Sadagheyani and Tatari (2020) put it, "the important thing is to be able to reduce the negative effects of social media on mental health and turn it into an opportunity by implementing appropriate strategies and actions and to increase and strengthen the positive effects."
Social media has played a huge role in social movements and activism, especially in recent years with the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements. Many people use Twitter as a type of news source to keep them up-to-date on these sorts of events ("Black Twitter itself is referred to as a journalistic source," according to Lockett (2021)). Facebook groups have been formed to organize protests and simply bring together people with common passions (some more hateful than others). There are thousands of hashtags and accounts dedicated solely to social movements, whether it's @makerswomen on Instagram or #equalrights on Twitter and TikTok. Gehr (2021) puts it well: "social media has provided a dynamic avenue for activists to spread their messages and reach a wider audience on the global stage."
LET'S SEE THOSE PROS AND CONS!
PROS
- “Social media has been a great unifier,” says Gehr (2021), bringing people together who, in the real world, can have a hard time finding people they relate to (creating a sense of togetherness and a collective consciousness)
- social media serves as a resource that "[provides people] with the resources and knowledge that is necessary to challenge societal norms" (Gehr 2021), as well as a place where activists can share their ideas and motivation
- according to Anderson et al. (2018), "majorities of Americans do believe [social media is] very or somewhat important for accomplishing a range of political goals, such as getting politicians to pay attention to issues (69% of Americans feel these platforms are important for this purpose) or creating sustained movements for social change (67%)," so social media has helped turn words into action
- it makes social justice movements easily accessible and more convenient to be a part of, so even if you can't make it to the Pride March, you can still stay involved through retweets and watching live streams
CONS
- "slacktivism" and "armchair activism" (Seay 2014) are forms of advocacy that pose minimal costs to participants, such as posting a black square on Instagram or wearing a particular color of clothing and posting that on TikTok; these people appear to "[believe] it is more important to be seen to help than to actually help" (Gilmore 2014)
- people can rely only on what they see on social media, but unfortunately a lot of those posts include misinformation or not enough information, resulting in widespread false or limited knowledge on certain events
- "with the notion that inaction equates with oppression, students may feel the need to publicly express their support or condemnation of a subject" (Zang and Knezevic 2020), becoming victims of peer pressure when there really isn't any need or good reason for it; they may have their own reasons for not getting involved or not posting, but they're convinced that "silence is violence"
- there are more effective ways to support/be a part of a movement, such as signing petitions, doing your research, and simply redirecting "their efforts towards real, tangible actions," rather than falling back on the convenience and anonymity of social media
Social media is a very powerful tool when it comes to social movements and activism and should be used with care. It can make huge differences, such as informing the world of current events, bringing together like-minded individuals, and raising awareness of important issues. But it can also foster misinformation and "slacktivism," both plagues to real progress in the world of social justice.
As we've already touched on, social media is a resource for information, whether it's for people with mental illnesses seeking help, students researching for a class, or learning about a current social movement. And, according to, Huber et al. (2019), "research has shown that online media use increases science knowledge and positive attitudes toward science." So, we have this unique and complex tool for acquiring information that also allows interaction and communication between the receivers and senders of that information. That's pretty different and far more advanced than your average textbook.
SOME FINAL PROS AND CONS
PROS
- social media is a convenient and widespread resource for finding information; you can follow news stations on practically any platform, you can keep track of certain hashtags to stay up-to-date on certain events and topics, and you can watch videos about anything you want at any time and any place
- those providing the information are able to interact more with the audience and create a unique trust between the two
- social media has the power to be personalized and show you information that relates to what you're interested in, so you don't have to look very far to find what you want
- social media brings people together, no matter if you're continents apart, so someone in the U.S. can now know what's going on across the world with just a tap or a click
CONS
- there can be too much information to sift through, and with most platforms now being personalized, it's even more difficult to find something that's different, something that could help you step outside of what you already know ("[personas] often end up designing products that alienate audiences, rather than making them feel at home" (Wachter-Boettcher 2017))
- while good information can be easily accessed, so can misinformation, which can be spread purposefully or accidentally; either way, it's easy to get away from fact and start believing (without realizing) the lies that are being spread
- people may give too much information, resulting in problems with privacy that can range from mostly harmless to very serious, and we all know that once something is on the Internet, it's on there forever
Information is more easily accessible using social media, helping to create a new generation of people who can have a question answered with the tap or click of a button. A far cry from how we used to get information (sifting through stacks of books and papers or reading the newspaper), social media brings answers to the tips of our fingers. However, it's also incredibly easy to find and rely on false information. If people don't check their facts and get caught up in the convenience of social media, they can be falsely informed and unknowingly spread lies.
And now for what I believe to be the biggest thing that social media has affected...
That's right, communication. While we've talked for a while now about how social media has affected different realms of society, we haven't yet specifically focused on the way it's changed the way we communicate and interact with one another. Before technology, we were pretty limited in how we could communicate with each other. Well, we could, but it would take more time or rely largely on face-to-face conversations. Because of technology, the world has gotten smaller (in a sense), and we can easily communicate with people across the world. And now with social media, that rapid fire communication is still happening, but in a more complex and unique way.
We can interact with multiple people (sometimes thousands, sometimes millions) of people at once. Whether that's a celebrity going live on Instagram or someone posting a video on YouTube or TikTok that gets millions of views in just an hour.
We've learned to get by without nonverbal cues (i.e. tone of voice, facial expressions, body movements and posture, and more) and can instead rely on punctuation and emojis to convey our tone and message (i.e. "Okay..." vs. "K.")
We can communicate simply by sending memes, photos, or videos, without ever saying a word. And all of this can be done with the click of a button or by tapping a screen. The world of communication and interaction has moved to our fingertips, making it more accessible, convenient, and unlike anything we've ever had in history.
There are also, however, some serious problems that social media is at the root of...
Because so much of our interaction has been reduced to what goes on in the digital world, we're losing social skills that are vital to our growth, development, and survival. Humans are very social creatures, and with face-to-face interaction not being nearly as prevalent as it used to be, we're creating an unbridgeable gap between each of us. This lack of face-to-face interaction also contributes to feelings of loneliness and depression. Just think about it: how many times have you ridden the bus or been in a waiting room, and almost everyone there is hunched over their phone rather than talking to the people around them?
Communicating within the digital world can also bring out the worst in people. Because they feel like they have a screen to hide behind, or that there wouldn't be any consequences because it's "just online," people have been extremely cruel to others (ex. cyberbullying) and don't put much thought behind what they say or post online. This is extremely unfortunate because once something is on the Internet, it's there forever.
Social media is extremely addictive. "As of 2019 and 2020, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 145 minutes per day," according to Statista (2021). People are spending more time scrolling through Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and more, rather than interacting with people and observing the world around them. So while social media is making the world smaller, it's also creating a greater distance between each of us.
TAKING A LOOK BACK
So, we're approaching the finish line. Of course, there's plenty more we could talk about! This project only gave a sweeping view of social media in different areas of society and life and didn't go as deep into each topic as it absolutely could have. But the point was to provide a glimpse of the ENORMOUS and WIDESPREAD role that social media plays in so many different areas of life, and I hope you were able to grasp some of the enormity of it all. What else in our history has impacted so many people and our interactions in such a unique way? I can't think of anything. Let me know if you do. :)
While it would take many more weeks of analysis and research to retackle all of the arguments we've made here - and this project would likely be twice as long - we can still touch on a few to show how complex the issue of social media really is. Here, I will give my take on two such arguments that have faced skepticism and criticism: the addictiveness of social media, and the effects social media has on us socially.
ADDICTIVENESS:
Addiction is a tricky word, I've come to see. I think society has attached a negative connotation to the word (I think I have as well in the past). There are the addictions to smoking, drug use, caffeine, sex, and more. These can be considered negative, and rightly so. But does that make the word "addiction" itself negative? Maybe not. Google (via Oxford Languages) defines addiction as "the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity." Nowhere in that definition does it say addiction is only a bad thing. But how does one define a "bad" addiction? Some may think that an addiction to caffeine isn't a bad thing. Some may say that an addiction to reading isn't a bad thing. And, yes, some may say an addiction to social media isn't a bad thing. So... is addiction subjective? Perhaps it depends on the extent and intensity of the addiction for activities that aren't as obviously bad ("obviously bad" meaning something that is clearly detrimental to your health, such as smoking). Perhaps spending a couple hours every day reading a book or scrolling through social media isn't that bad for some people but is for others. Or perhaps not being able to set your phone down for longer than a few seconds is considered bad by some people but not by others. When we really think about it, how can we really determine the addictiveness of activities like social media (especially when it's really certain facets of social media that people could be getting addicted to, not the whole of social media itself)? My personal conclusion is that it's subjective. That's probably not the concrete answer you were hoping for, or maybe you have your own, but it's a complex argument to make! Maybe it's one of those topics that can fit into both pros and cons categories, or it floats around in that odd in-between space. I'll leave it up to you to decide.
THE SOCIALNESS OF SOCIAL MEDIA:
I admit it! You caught me! There is some personal bias that slipped into this project. I find face-to-face interaction to be more important - when it comes down to a "this or that" question - than the interaction we see on social media. Why? I value physicalness and nonverbal cues very highly! You just can't get a hug from your best friend over Instagram. You can't laugh with your family over Snapchat like you can when you're together. It's always been my personal preference to be with people than to only communicate digitally. And you just can't receive someone's message digitally the way you can in-person, when you can see the way their hands move, or when their eyebrow twitches, or that little sparkle in their eyes. In addition, I've seen so many cases where a screen was in someone's face rather than interacting with those around them, especially for the younger generations. For example, rather than talking to their children, having them play outdoors, or spending time with friends, parents will shove a screen in front of their face, just because it's easier (does convenience always mean "better"?). Perhaps it is a personal preference, perhaps I have a more traditional/old-fashioned outlook on life, but it makes me sad when I see everyone hunched over their phones in public spaces. It's not always about the lack of face-to-face interaction, but also about the lack of attention for the world around us (its beauty, its vastness, and its problems). So yes, I have my own opinions about the socialness of social media. HOWEVER. I understand that it isn't always possible to physically be with the ones we love. I have friends in other states that I wouldn't be able to communicate as effortlessly with if I didn't have social media. I wouldn't have some of the friends I do if it weren't for social media. And I understand some people have social anxiety that makes it extremely difficult for them to talk to people in-person, but they can easily show their true selves and communicate with others digitally. So, it can't really be a concrete, "scientific" discussion or assertion, can it? This is yet another topic that falls victim to the complexity of subjectivity.
These discussions only further show the complex and unique role that social media plays in our lives and the way we interact. It's enough to make your brain hurt (I know mine certainly does after all this...). But it's still important to think about. Social media is so prevalent in all of our lives that I believe it can be beneficial to everyone if we all take a moment, sit back, and observe the complexity, power, and distinctiveness of social media, as well as the role it plays in how we interact (in all areas of life and society).
So...what now?
We've taken a look at how social media has become a powerful and unique medium in the realm of human interaction, from mental health to education to (mis)information to activism and more. We've seen how social media is a double-edged sword that brings up a lot of complex arguments. But what can we do, or what are we supposed to do, with all of this information?
All we can really do, I suppose, is be actively aware of the role social media plays in our lives. We can be mindful of the way we use it, as well as how much we use it. We can try to use it for good, whether that's bettering ourselves individually, making a difference by supporting a good cause, or maintaining a wonderful relationship with a friend that lives across the world. And, most important of all (in my mind, at least), we can choose to step away from it every now and then. Get out there and hug your best friend. Kiss your partner. Reminisce with your family. Compliment a stranger. And admire this beautiful world we live in.
I think we've both been staring at this screen for long enough. I hope you learned a little something during our time together, and good luck out there.
Signing off,
Paige Ringelberg