How Social Media Impacts Society

By Luke Davis

Basically modern technology is kind of a mixed bag. There’s not much more to it.

Let's talk about the bad stuff. Due to the hive mind and hyper-sensitive culture of most sites, the future of the world is turning into jaded sarcastic toddlers that cry when people do anything to violate their expressive individualist reality, which is a fallacy founded in delusion and mental illness. People proudly fake mental disorders for the attention this brings them, probably due to numerous instances of a generation being raised by screens due to abysmal parenting. The inherit openness of the Internet is problematic as well, young minds being able access boundless information is not always good because many radical groups that indoctrinate children through social media live on platforms used by kids and teenagers such as Reddit, YouTube, Twitter and TikTok, forums or pages meant for adults who are discussing politics or watching videos a little too spicy to bring up in a school paper can be easily accessed by quite simply lying about one’s age and naturally is very dangerous.

But wait there's more! The Internet led to radicalization of all political viewpoints to the point where productive conversation no longer exists because you can always find someone who agrees with you. Due to endless scapegoating, those who are conservative are viewed as corrupt, greedy, bigots who hate everything that is good for the human race and those identified as liberal are communists who want to burn down the world and take down industrial society. Social media is leading society into the new dark ages where mental illness is abundantly common and everyone is a self-centered monster whose only point in existing (in their eyes) is gaining the approval of others. I don't want to live in that world, but society is already halfway there. But it can't all be bad right?

Well it's not all bad so… what's good? Social media is a phenomenal way to keep in touch with friends who live far away and meet people who like the same things as you do. Millions of hours of content, both in the form of streaming services, whether it be music or TV shows or platforms where people make their own content lie on YouTube or Twitch. It has also somewhat kept the philosophy of the great speculation alive, the philosophy western society was founded upon, basically the fact that other people have lives and feelings and that we as humans can relate to their inner lives instead of treating other humans like objects. And that's definitely good.

Luke Davis, Staff Contributor to West Side Story