by By Isaac Bisilki
The emergence of social media has enriched our daily experience in so many ways, as we derive different gratifications from the use of these platforms. These gratifications are both social, involving interactions in virtual spaces, and economic where monetary benefits are gained. Socially, the affordances of social media enable us to share personal information, as well as share others’ information that we receive through our online activities on these platforms.
Generally, social media, through interactions, facilitate the establishment of new relationships by connecting people from different parts of the world. However, embedded in this facilitative role are ramifications, something I refer to as the downside. The focus of this blog is to highlight the downside or side effects of social media use and how to navigate these inherent traps.
Undoubtedly, social media is a double-edged sword: offering benefits to users, including individuals and organizations, as well as unintended repercussions for these categories of users. Therefore, to be safe on social media requires that one treads cautiously when using these tools. That is, by being strategic in sharing one’s thoughts or content, knowing that one’s digital footprint remains unerasable but retrievable by unauthorized persons. This permanence of content shared is the lurking ghost of social media with a ruining potential.
A social media post is also scalable: it can go viral beyond the originator’s control, which can be damaging to one’s reputation, image, career, or even social life. Instances of employees being fired from their jobs abound for what can be termed as the wrong use of social media in organizational settings (Jacobson, 2011; O’Connor, et al., 2015).
Apart from the above, research has also shown that excessive amounts of time spent on social media can affect mental health and well-being. This may result from lack of sleep and excess straining of one’s eyes, among others. Of extreme importance is the fact that social media is an attention economy and is designed to be highly addictive to users. The question that comes up is who wants to be an addict to anything in this life? Addiction wrenches our ability to be in control of our lives—time and desires. The above consequences are definitely not in anybody’s interest to be in bondage, and we need to figure out how to overcome these challenges.
How to prevent these complications?
It is possible to harness the positive side of social media while reducing to the barest minimum the chances of getting into hot waters. The first step in this process is to nurture the discipline required to keep one from slipping in this seemingly entertaining but risky terrain. Just as some twenty celebrities decided to limit their social media presence or its use in order to avoid unexpected crises, we, the non-celebrity class, can take a cue from this and apply the same discipline to our daily lives.
Indeed, discipline here has multiple facets: time management (i.e., which time in one’s day is appropriate to chat or post on social media without disruptions); giving careful thought to every post (i.e., assessing the possible interpretations and implications of each post); and identifying the various target publics of your post with the worst-case scenario in mind). Mind you, social media is a no man’s land; therefore, uncontrolled media.
Figuratively, we can liken the impact of social media to the spoken word, whose effects cannot be withdrawn or canceled—once posted there is no turning back. Nothing is truly deletable on social media if one maintains one’s account. There is always a trace of it, as our digital footprint remains a shadow we cannot detach from our bodies. So, the next time you intend to jump on any social media platform, be mindful of all of this and make the right decisions.
I really enjoyed reading this post! I completely agree with the points that you made about the downside to social media. There are so many different ways in which using these platforms can have a negative effect on our lives and I feel as though you touched upon the important ones that people need to be aware about. This discussion is exactly why I believe that social media teams for any business, campaign, etc. need more than one set of eyes to examine the potential posts so that there can be that “worst-case-scenario” discussion through multiple viewpoints rather than just one. This can better the post in what is eventually published online forever and for the whole world to see. Additionally, those that take the time to really consider what they are posting on their individual platforms showcase less controversial posts in this regard. I think that you’ve brought up amazing points by choosing to write about this and I hope that all other students take the chance to read your blog.
Excellent post! I appreciate how you brought in elements of privacy and safety online to discuss the side effects of social media. People usually just focus on the mental health aspect of social media side effects which is obviously a very important and necessary discussion to have, but sometimes it is helpful to ground these side effects in more tangible ones. I also think that you provided an important reminder that all posts are out there forever. This is something that is incredibly important for brands to keep this in mind especially when cancel culture is so prevalent right now.
Hey Isaac ,
this is a really great blog post. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this topic 🙂
During COVID I spent way too much time on social media and when I went back to work and my normal daily life, I relaized how much I got used to checking my phone all the time. So, limiting your social media use and being aware of the addiction potential social media has, is very important. I also liked how you pointed out that everyone should be aware of the fact that once you posted something, you have absolutely no control over the content anymore and it is very hard (or rather impossible) to take something off the internet again. Additionally, I feel like today, we are more than aware of the positive features social media has, but we still need to work on the awareness for the downsides (mental health/addiction issues).