After several weeks decided to put words to thoughts. This post will be about my impressions about social media from an end user perspective. I understand each individual’s experience is likely to be unique. Around 2010 I believe I started using social media and I have couple of social media accounts. Overall my experience can be summed in 3 words: Promise, Allure, Disappointment.
Let me start with “promise”. My social media journey started with a lot of promise. Felt that it gave an opportunity to stay connected with people I still maintained contact with, connect again with people I knew but had not been in touch with and to make new friends due to shared interests or discovered connection (like hobbies, school attended, growing up in or around the same community). Social media did deliver initially and I was able to connect with friends, old and new. Became a new medium to share news, good and bad, and just be there for each other, regardless of the time zone each person was located. There is convenience in being able to connect virtually at any time.
The next bit was “allure”. I like to paint with words and share in the hope someone can relate to my experiences and add their own impressions and perspectives. So, social media became an useful tool to convey my thoughts without the burden of being a professional writer. It allowed to be true to myself, express views and share interesting information. Another allure was the facility to donate to good causes and reach out to folks for their contributions, if they were interested.
Finally, the “disappointment” part. There has been more than one disappointment, at different levels. Authenticity is lost when public posture and opinions expressed in smaller private groups are at variance. Also, while connecting to people virtually is convenient it becomes a bit of bother if one or more users post material that is either insensitive or offensive. There is a certain level of self-policing involved in group situations. When one speaks up about insensitive/offensive material posted and it still continues one starts feeling like an outlier if even the good people whose voice will be heard choose to be silent. Another thing that irritates me is the senseless forwards. I don’t have anything against forwards per se. Occasionally I forward or post links that I find interesting or useful. What makes forwards irritating is when the person either blindly forwards without reading the contents or uses plausible deniability as a reason to avoid taking any responsibility if there is insensitive or offensive material. Some groups may also have folks’ intent on pushing their views leaving no room for discussion or debate if there is difference of opinion. I guess it’s a measure of general polarization when discussion about issues turn personal instead of remaining issue driven. Maybe I get more affected by such stuff than I should, but a sense of disenchantment started building over a period of time. The platform providers also bear some responsibility for trying to make it a safe and secure experience instead of just trying to push content into the feeds for the “free” use of the tool. For example, if I happen to read about quarterly results of a company, say Nike, it’s not because I am looking to buy a pair of sneakers. Unfortunately, the half-assed way the algorithms/AI for using user data works it means that the next time I log in to social media tool I might find ads for Air Jordans or something similar. Likewise for what user posts the tool determines should figure in the feed that will interest the user. My usage of social media reduced as a result. The last straw, so to speak, was 2-3 months ago when a post appeared in my feed that seemed to indicate a friend that I had not kept in touch with passed away suddenly under tragic circumstances. When you see something like that there is a pang of guilt for not having kept in touch with that friend and as a reflex reaction I clicked the link associated with the tragic event. My account got hacked (and looks like that friend’s account must have also been hacked) and similar posts under my name also started appeared in my other friend’s feed. Obviously, the platform provider can do a better job of monitoring for bad actors and taking swift action. My already reduced usage of social media is now even rarer. Yes, I may miss out on some happenings and updates about friends, but I have more peace of mind and that’s priceless! 🙏
TheRajBlog 