Blog #5: Social Media Toxicity
By: Farah Elmassry
We all know of social media; in fact, many of us spend the majority of our time carelessly scrolling through our Instagram feeds or scrolling endlessly on TikTok. Social media can be a platform for everyone to express themselves, show their creativity, and even promote businesses, but it can also be a place filled with hate and criticism. Study shows that 64% of Americans say that Social Media negatively impacts their lives, saying that Social media platforms are toxic and filled with more hate than ever before.
Apps like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter are filled with hate speech and negative comments. The latest platform TikTok recently banned a swathe of hate speech on its platform, but that doesn’t stop many of the negative comments people leave on the app on a daily basis. For young teenagers and adults, Social Media may promote negative experiences about life or appearance.
So with all this being said, my Question to you is : Do you think Social Media is toxic? If so, why, and if not, explain why you think it isn’t.
Farah, that's the big question these days. My personal opinion? Virtually everything in this life can be used, abused, and exploited in toxic ways. People are the problem--not the platform. Before social media, humanity found ways to bully others, spew hate speech, form harmful addictions, and feed into their own self-loathing and insecurities. Maybe I'm jaded and cynical.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm not so quick to jump on the 'social media bad' train. The answer to your question is yes--social media clearly enables toxic situations. Still, I tend to place blame where I feel it is deserving---the parents (when talking about young people's activity on SM) and the people involved (when talking about adults).
TikTok and other platforms can censor all day long. But bad people are still going to perpetuate their hatred and find other outlets for their bad behavior. The problem runs deeper....
In my opinion, Social Media platforms are not toxic itself, rather it is the individuals who manipulate others. Social Media becomes and is considered toxic when things such as hate comments, posts, tweets, etc, are taken seriously. One has to realize that there are people in this world who gain satisfaction out of other's downfall/flaws. But, there are also good things and good people on Social Media that others look up to for guidance and strength. The good and bad vary, depending on the area you are looking into.
Delete-Julia Brubaker
In my opinion social media is not toxic in itself, Many websites were made with good intentions, It’s the people using these platforms that make them toxic. There are millions of people on social media everyday and there is no way any giant corporation could monitor all it’s users. You really can’t control what people say, there are bound to be users under anonymous names leaving unkind messages and spreading hate.
ReplyDeleteI think the best thing we can do to prevent this is by teaching social media awareness in schools. Growing up with technology, many people from my generation had to take classes on the dangers of social media, at least I did. Whether it was online bullying awareness classes or how to spot fake and misleading articles, I've learned early on how to navigate the internet. So I don't have to see a lot of the toxic behavior that goes on, I try to follow the right people and be careful with what I search. Although, even those precautions are never really full proof. In my opinion that’s the risk you take while being online. It’s sort of a gamble “what am i gonna see this time?” Even if you follow people you trust nothing is stopping them from posting something graphic before an automated system takes it down. There is no way to prevent what people post, but social media can also be used for good. People tend to villainize the apps and not the people who use them wrongfully.
-Sara Smolock
In my opinion, social media can be just as toxic as it can be positive (and vice versa.)
ReplyDeleteOf course social media imposes impossible standards for how people should live their lives and how they should look, but it also spreads awareness about important topics as well as serving as an educational tool for many people. I believe the real problem is that we as a society need to teach kids and adults how to properly navigate the internet. For example we need to spread the message that social media is fake and makes things look better than they actually are. We also need to teach children and some adults about how to spot fake websites and false information on the internet. Since the worst types of toxicity on the internet stems from false information and rumors. Another problem that many social media apps and websites face is their ability to properly regulate not just toxic behavior, but downright illegal or immoral content. A lot of social media apps, like YouTube or tik tok, often have trouble sensoring or blocking content on their sites. For example, once in a while I stumble upon videos of tik tokers warning people about a very gory or dark video circulating on the app that is often hidden within a seemingly innocent video. This in itself shows how easily this type of stuff can get around and stay up before it is caught. I believe we just need to educate ourselves and others about how to navigate the internet and how to responsibly post online. The other part is up to each individual social media site to up to step up and do better.
- Emily Smolock
The toxicity that surrounds social media isn’t because of the social media platforms itself but the people who use the platforms to express negativity. Before social media there were already hate comments, bullying, insecurities, addictions, and etc. The difference between then and now is that there are more ways in which people can use social media to encourage what's already been around. It's easy to blame the social media platforms for the continuous negativity in the world but we need to hold the people responsible for encouraging, and posting these negative things. Everything we use in the world can either be used for good or bad. The object itself isn't bad but the person behind the object that decides whether or not to use it for good or bad.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has not been on social media in the past 3 months, I can explain my reasoning behind it and it is in fact that social media was toxic to my life. Instagram and TikTok have lowered my self-esteem from the constant comparisons between myself and individuals who I felt like I personally knew because of their page (although that is not the case at all.) No one likes to admit it but social media can be self-destructive. Besides my personal opinions on social media, we can also take a look at it from a different perspective psychologically. Social media and the apps such as Instagram or Snapchat are extremely addicting. We are wasting our time and capabilties sitting behind a screen and portraying a false reality to our viewers. Addiction takes away the whole idea of living life the way it was supposed to be meant to be lived. As we all know there is a positive to every negative. Unfortunately in this generation social media is the easiest way to form connections and friendships as well as learn something new.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that social media itself is toxic, but there are definitely people who use these platforms to spread toxicity. Social media gives people a platform to say pretty much anything they want, giving a way to spread both positivity and negativity with ease. There have always been people who bully and make fun of others and with recent advances of technology they have moved to doing it online. Although there are toxic people on social media, I have seen plenty of people doing positive things as well. It is not the platform, it's how people use it.
ReplyDelete-Devin Boone
I believe that social media has its positive impacts and negative attributes. I used to follow the most well-known supermodels and cried myself to sleep because I did not have the snatched waist and long legs. After reassessing my values, I decided to unfollow accounts that made me feel belittled and insecure and searched for Instagram influencers that inspired me to become the best version of myself. Accounts that focused on the true meaning of beauty filter-free, self-care, and nutritional motivations flooded my timeline, and now I do not encounter the same distress as before. My concern is that younger children would be surrounded by demeaning comments, content, and posts that they would struggle feeling comfortable with themselves. Social media's toxicity stems from its freedom to post and share any message one desires, whether good or evil.
ReplyDeleteSocial media itself is not toxic. It's the creators and the people themselves who make it toxic because everyone on social media apps are extremely hateful and all that people like to do is bring others down or try to make them feel bad for having something that someone else doesn't have. People make the app toxic by allowing themselves to be jealous of everything. If everyone that used social media respected everyone all apps would be perfect. A lot of negativity is spread because of social media but that shouldn't shy away the amount of positivity that it also brings.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Social Media platforms are not toxic itself, rather it is the individuals who manipulate others. Social Media becomes and is considered toxic when things such as hate comments, posts, tweets, etc, are taken seriously. One has to realize that there are people in this world who gain satisfaction out of other's downfall/flaws. But, there are also good things and good people on Social Media that others look up to for guidance and strength. The good and bad vary, depending on the area you are looking into.
ReplyDeleteI don't think social media is inherently toxic. A lot of the nastiness that we see spawns from people who have nothing better to do, and take it upon themselves to be hateful on the internet. These individuals are likely just looking for attention, but it's important to not "feed the trolls," so to speak. Finding positive people on these various applications isn't hard at all, and you can even make some friends along the way, provided they're trustworthy. Sometimes it can be difficult to look past the hate, and this might lead to people avoiding certain platforms altogether. However, if you cultivate your experience properly (unfollowing or even blocking those who make you unhappy, keeping your friends close, following who/what you're interested in, etc.), you can have a much better time on social media.
ReplyDelete– Antonia Sussina.
"Study shows that 64% of Americans say that Social Media negatively impacts their lives"
ReplyDeleteI am going to be be clear and transparent, as a gamer (a very competitive one) tend to be toxic on social media well I can't say social media mainly and strictly just on games. The reason why us gamers are so toxic are pretty clear and straight forward. One we just want to win whatever game or event thats going one. Two sometime we come across people that just do not take the games as serious and others and those same people would try to ruin it for us. Lastly, it just becomes habit sometime we are toxic to other fellow gamers without knowing, does it bother us? no we think that they would be alright at the end of the day, we even forget about it. But It is wrong I do disagree with these types behaviors.
Yes, I think social media makes people toxic. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great when people share their opinions. I genuinely believe people are allowed to say whatever they want, but with that being said, I do not think it is right to cancel people because of their beliefs and put one another down where other people are put on pedestals and praised.
ReplyDelete-Anthony Villanella
The foundation of all social media outlets is based on the emotional output of their users which can lead to a toxic atmosphere at times. Having a variety of networks that allow individuals to post whatever they desire, along with the feature of allowing any user to make comments, is a horrendous combination that directly leads to emotional instability. For example, a female with an eating disorder, struggling greatly with their body image, is scrolling through Instagram and sees a picture of a girl in a bathing suit. The girl has the ideal body type that the user is yearning to achieve which instantaneously filters negative thoughts and emotions through the viewer's mind. The user then begins to emphasize all their flaws and construct destructive actions that will allow them to appear as figures on social media. Human beings were not made to handle the constant comparison that these applications invoke. The effects of consistent judgement and hate can effectively tear down an individuals entire image of themselves.
DeleteWe are living in a age of technology, 3.5 billion google searches are processed per day. In other words, we are constantly interacting with some sort of platform which keeps us informed on a daily basis. I believe social media has both adverse, and positive effect on life. Social media is not toxic. For instance, if it wasn't for social media, you would not be able to communicate with your loved ones from miles away. You wouldn't know, whats happening in the far side of the world. Social media has grant us a way of expressing ourselves freely, that does not include indulging hate comments on others. Cyber bullying rising increasingly compared to previous years. The need of awareness for cyber bulling is critical. A simple negative comment can completely breakdown person's mentality. This is the dark side of the social media, but we do have some control in our such as what do we prefer to see. Social has media has given low income business to promote themselves without any fee and also a platform improve their lifestyle as well. At the end of the day it's up to us to filter what we see and what we don't want to see.
ReplyDeleteI think social media is toxic, especially with aspects such as the "like" button and "views" on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. Instagram is probably one of the most popular social media platforms and many pictures posted by celebrities, Instagram models, and more give society a fake ideal look for humans for not only the human body, but achievements, facial looks, and fame.
ReplyDelete~Zoe Yllanes
DeleteIn my perspective, I don't think social media is toxic, but it's the users of social media that make the social environment considerably toxic. In this generation, it's all about the likes, and follows that one you can to boast themselves, putting them somewhat on top of social hierarchy. But theses social medias apps were made to interact with others interpersonally, getting to meet new people, however that has swiftly transitioned into something that is seen as a competition more than an outlet or platform to make genuine friends.
ReplyDelete