Social Media — the bane of our lives or is it?
Even a year ago it would have taken absolutely nothing for anyone to convince me Social Media is the biggest bane of modern human life — I may even have waxed eloquent on the detrimental impacts of social media on our society and our lives. Until four years after Facebook came online, I knew very little about it. I did know that there was something called Facebook but I actively resisted knowing anything about it. Then one day I signed up for no apparent reason and wondered at how seamlessly I was able to get back in touch with long lost friends, ex-colleagues, class mates and relatives. It felt exciting and without realizing it, I got hooked. In the next few years I must have spent untold hours on Facebook — most of which added very little value to my life. It became an addiction. For me, Social Media was largely Facebook. I created a profile on Linkedin but was inactive until very recently. About a year or so back I updated my work profile (just for the last place I worked at) and then starting early 2021, I began writing blogs. Twitter — I finally started spending some time on twitter for the last 2–3 months. I may one day create an Instagram account too.
I have seen myself and many others getting hooked to Facebook. I know my daughter and quite a few of her friends spend a lot of time on Instagram. Few people spend enormous amount of time on Twitter. Whatsapp has become critical part of people’s daily lives anyway. On the face of it, tremendous amount of human potential is getting wasted on these Social Media (SM) Platforms. Well, it is no surprise that we are addicted to them because this happens by design. I understand that the algorithms that these Social Media platforms use are constantly optimized for hooking us to them. It has become difficult (or perhaps impossible) to differentiate between genuine information and fake news. FOMO is another reason that contributes to the addiction. Also, cultivated profiles on social media cause many unnecessary peer pressures. Direct human interaction is reducing rapidly. I’m not entirely sure whether I should be excited about ‘Meta’ avatar of Facebook or be morbidly scared. SM surely has to be biggest bane our lives!
But then there is this unbelievably positive side to SM as well, inestimable even.
- Social: Getting back in touch with long lost friends and family and being up to date with their goings on — this core social need of human beings is so effectively served by the SM platforms
- Knowledge: It has never been this easy to access and interact with experts from across the world no matter which niche area one fancies. It has become easy and cheap to acquire knowledge, get advice, build conviction and make real progress
- Information: It has become so easy to create or become part of special interest groups. Running groups, Personal Finance groups, Music Groups, Food and Cuisine groups, Local area groups for restaurants, theatre and other events, groups for Sci-Fi movies — the list goes on and on.
- Business: A bunch of people have been able to exploit SM for much beyond knowledge acquisition — create commercial opportunities, build successful businesses. SM platforms truly democratize opportunities — Inclusion and Diversity by default
- Careers: One can show case one’s capabilities and accomplishments online. Interviews can at best give a peep into the candidate’s capabilities but a personal website can provide a deep and well-rounded view into one’s strengths and skills
- Entertainment: One can follow their influences, interact with them and keep up to date with them
SM has had tremendous positive influence on the trajectory of my life so far. I have drawn enormous inspiration from Subramoney, Freefincal, a bunch of runners — this has been possible only because of Social Media. I have listened to innumerable interviews of authors of books I read — Rory Suderland, Thomas Gilovich, Charlie Munger, Michael Lewis, Robert Sapolsky, Geoffrey West, Gary Vaynerchuk etc. Podcasts by Shane Parrish, Steve Bubner, Sam Harris, Angela Duckworth, Steve Bubner, Sam Harris, Time Ferris, Michael Lewis, Marcus and Magness, Running Rogue etc, etc.
World has never been flatter. Bountiness of knowledge and access to it is an unbeatable advantage for all of us to grab and exploit.
It comes down to whether Social Media is using you or you are using Social Media — who is the subject of whom. The system 1 part of our brain will continue to lure and compel us to be the subject of Social Media — it is a tall order to neutralize this but it is in our own very interest to muster the System 2 part of our brain (Prefrontal Cortex) to make SM our subject.
I believe that, in this eternal battle of ‘on this hand’ and ‘on the other hand’, positive tipping the balance even if ever so slightly can go a long way in achieving long term success.
