Users weigh variable value of social media

In the age of the internet and social media, it’s hard to keep up with everything, and it can sometimes be tough just to stay sane with the barrage of hate and negativity that gets put out into the world via the internet, while handling the stress that social media puts on mental health.

Senior Aidan Fobian primarily uses Twitter, or X as it is known now, and Reddit said, “Twitter is funny when people aren’t arguing, and Reddit is more community focused on certain topics and series.” 

He estimated that he spends about three hours a day on social media, which is a little below the estimated 4.8 hours, according to a Gallup article. Fobian said he thinkst that social media affects the way he feels. “I try to not let it affect me. With the recent election, Twitter (X) blew up and had people all over dooming about the fall of America and how people were afraid for the future of the U.S. it’s easy to get swept up in the storm of emotions, but we have to remember that we are still people at the end of the day.”

Regarding the good aspects of social media, he said that he likes discussions about art that he enjoys and that he likes getting news updates on things he likes, but for the bad aspects, he doesn’t like the amount of senseless arguments and virtue signaling. 

Virtue signaling is the public expression of opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one’s good character, or in other words, making oneself seem morally good for the sake of acceptance of others. 

In his overall estimation, Fobian said he thought social media was more harmful than beneficial. “It’s not good or bad. It’s a tool, like words. Tools are not good or bad by morals. They simply take the form of the people using them. If someone with hate in their heart tweets, then hate will spread. If someone wants to spread something good, something good will be spread.”

George Kimmich is a UNI student whose preferred social media sites are Twitter, Reddit, Snapchat, Discord and YouTube. “Twitter and Reddit suck, and I continually question why I use them, but it’s probably because it helps me stay ‘in the know’ of certain communities and fandoms I’m in … or, at least, that’s what Twitter used to do. Reddit still does this pretty well, though. Snapchat and Discord are mostly just for talking to friends, though.” 

He said he spends around six hours if he includes the time he spends talking to friends online; otherwise, he said it was around one to two hours. Kimmich said that sometimes he’ll think that someone on Twitter is upsetting, but then the timer that he set for himself will be up for the day and he will go on with his life. He also said that sometimes talking with people on Discord or Snapchat leaves him frustrated or melancholic, but attributes that to being just a part of talking with people in general. 

His enjoyments of social media are fairly simple, including talking with his friends and playing video games with them. As for dislikes, Kimmich said, “I wish there weren’t so many dislikable people on the internet. I wish there weren’t so many people just constantly looking for validation, virtue points or fights on the internet. And I don’t like seeing myself engaging in those fights or behaviors when I’m dragged into them, but sometimes I’m caught in these waves of malice, hate and pride too.” 

As for whether social media is more beneficial or harmful, he said, “I think we need to seriously reinvent how we see social media, culturally and socially. Almost everyone I know agrees that it’s a toxic wasteland, yet we keep feeding it every day, and even defending it when worst comes to worst. Giant interconnected social media spaces almost always breed terrible spaces, at least in this day and age, and while smaller interconnected social media usually are nice places to be, they can end up echo chambers and cause the same amount of harm.” 

Kimmich also gave advice, and that is to be skeptical, always be conscious and aware of what one is consuming online, and fact check the information using credible websites. Kimmich said, ‘To quote Lain’s father from the incredible show Serial Experiments, ‘When it’s all said and done, the internet is just a medium for communication and the transfer of information. You mustn’t confuse it with the real world.”’