There is a small demon inside of me which tells me that social media is positive for society, that it makes me happy, that I
have friends on there, and that it isn't as bad as I think, but I think I have internally accepted the truth: the fact that
social media has harmful effects on humans. Not only that - they are elaborately designed to manipulate us in whichever ways Big
Media wants.
What I am about to tell you is not based on any research; nor is it based on any secrets that I have illegally stolen from
social media companies. It is solely based on what I have heard from others and what I have experienced myself. This gives
you every right to question my beliefs, but I only ask that you look at this with an open mind and truthfully compare it to
your experiences.
The first point which I want to make is about notifications. Developers of social media applications use notifications as a sort
of cue to bring you back to their apps. Kind of like a dog whistle. You are programmed to respond to these cues so that every time
your phone vibrates or pings you check it. Is this not your behaviour? Are you not aware that these apps are draining your life away?
I feel like a hypocrite writing this, but I have to. I fall into these traps too. It's unfortunate. We feel like we are missing out
on something if we don't check the notification immediately.
We need to undo the programming by the app-developers. One way of doing this with regards to notifications is to disable any
auditory, virbratory or visual notifications on our devices. This will allow us to focus on one task at a time without being distracted
by notifications every few minutes. "Why are these bad?" you may ask. "I don't even check them." They're bad because they break your
focus. Once your focus breaks it takes some time to recover that lost focus. When you are like this you will be unable to achieve a state of
Deep Work. (Though I'm still unsure if Deep Work on a device is possible.)
The next two points I shall mention are not ones which keep people checking their phones; they are ones which keep people on their phones.
The first is the problem of sidebars. Video sites like YouTube have sidebars which show a list of recommended videos. The
issue here is that the sidebar is so well curated that it is sometimes irresistible to click on one of those videos. Those recommended
videos are trained with Machine Learning to know what you are most likely to click on. One click leads to another, and before you
know it you have spent 7 hours on the YouTube app.
Scrollability is integrated into most social media apps and this is one thing that makes us waste so much time. Those apps allow you
to scroll infinitely without the content ever ending. When you don't scroll to the next post you wonder what useful information
(stop lying to yourself) you are missing out on. You want to satiate this urge so you scroll to the next post. The interesting thing is
that the exact same thought-process happens when you are on the next post. Fifty posts after you had promised yourself "one more post" you
finally close the app, and you feel like garbage.
These apps are meticulously designed to keep you using them just enough to destroy your mental health so that you consume more to
try and fill the void, but not depressed enough that you totally leave social media or kill yourself (because that would be bad
for business). Many people do not fall directly into the jaws of this trap. That is the reason why the suicide rate is higher than
it has ever been.
I have heard that certain colours like red and blue are utilised to play on people's natural reactions to those colours, but I cannot
confirm from experience whether this is true. I don't pay much attention to the colours used though maybe there is some subconscious
processing of these colours which makes me use the apps more. One thing that could be an example of its truth is that notification
badges are mostly red.
One thing that I have noticed is that a person typing in a WhatsApp chat or group sort of excites a person, even if it hardly perceptible.
When you click on a group, and you enter the group it says "Click for group info" in the banner. About a second later, it changes into the
list of contacts. The only other time a change like this happens is when someone is typing. When you enter the group you don't usually look
directly at the banner so, when this happens, you may feel like someone is typing. I think this is a purposeful implementation.
In the discussion of any addictive substance - social media not being an exception - the topic of dopamine comes up. The corporations
have obviously done research into how our bodies' dopaminergic system works and they are using their knowledge against us.
A small point which is kind of obvious is that these social media use a score system to validate people who use the apps. Some people
have more "followers" or "karma" or "views". In reality this has little benefit for you unless you are deriving financial gain from
it.
We have to realise that this is a war between us and the evil technologists who want to fill their bank accounts. Ask yourself why these
technologists would offer these apps and websites for free? Is something free going to benefit you? Most of the time it will not.
So stay away from these evil technologies. The makers of these do not have your best interests in mind.