Scapegoating Social Media

[Lucius]

Apologies if this isn't in the right area. Feel free to move the topic if that's the case.

Hopefully this isn't overly controversial or anything, but I've been spinning this idea around my head a couple of times before I decided that I'd post it here and see what everyone thought.

Now, I know that social media isn't perfect, but I really don't think that it's the root cause of many of the issues that it's blamed for in people today. I've grown tired of folks scapegoating social media like it's evil incarnate or something. It's a tool, and like any other tool, it has the power to be both beneficial and detrimental—depends on how you use it.

I guess it's like a hammer. You can use it to drive a nail into a wall so that you can hang a picture, or you can use it to repeatedly whack your finger; your choice.

Social media might be a contributor to some issues today, but I really don't think that it's fair to solely blame it for everything that's wrong with people these days.


Thoughts? Opinions? Agree? Disagree? I'd love to hear what everyone has to say about this.

Edit: Fixed Typos.

[wolfdog01]

100% agree, got every point there. I personally don't have Twitter or Facebook or Instagram or anything like that, just because I know if I read something or if something happens, then I will be unhappy. Don't wanna be unhappy lol. But it is the company's fault for the actions of the users? Nope. Now if they changed their policies or something then yes, I would be mad. I'd rather stick to my FH forum and Fishlore forum.
I think some people go onto the bigger sites just to cause drama and stir up people, I ain't about that life lol. I try to avoid things like that as best as I can.

[Kastilla]

I see it as the saying, "feeding rumors through the grapevine." Social media being the grapevine and issues, be it political or morality, the "feeding rumors." However, it cannot be blamed since it doesn't have a mind of it's own. It gets fed through human interaction, like many things are. It's the anonymity of social media that gives one a seemingly limitless sense of power, not being caught due to the "woe is me" rules.

One can look at it and think many different things, much like I did. The platforms were created for the good, of course, and not as tools to spread hate. It's a slippery slope of views, social media is, with rules and regulations. It's either they are followed or not, especially with big sites such as Facebook and Twitter. No one to enforce them, since the userbase is comprised of adults that won't be told what to do. Things happen and the public does not blame the staff, they blame the entire site or even the creator of said site. Personifying does not always mean justifying the situation. Exactly the wording you used, they scapegoat it. Almost to sugarcoat, honestly.

I hope I made sense, my head is whirled at the moment...too much coffee.

[Vilivikhorith]

Like most things of the internet, it can be used to improve our life, but also can be misused to make it worse. The only evil I'd speculate most people see in it is that it can make internet harassment on a large scale much easier. Without it, it wouldn't be impossible still though (hence some underlying problem). The use of real names also does not seem to combat this at all, which is quite interesting.

Personally, my issue with it is the amount of information nearly every platform collects and monetises from users. Sometimes it is not always handled with care in addition (see: Facebook analytica scandal).

[turtlies]

I completely agree. A lot of people tend to get into this mindset that technology is evil and phones are ruining our minds or whatever, but technology and social media also have many benefits that seem to be forgotten. I think people just like having one singular entity they can blame their troubles on, instead of focusing on addressing specific problems.

Also tends to be a lot of "back in my day!" comments from the older generation, who seem to be the main group against technology and social media. Technology is just evolving, and of course it will bring forth its own issues and challenges, but you can't just blame social media or technology as a whole. Sorry if I'm not contributing much here, but I do definitely agree about social media being used as a scapegoat, and I think it's pretty unfair.

[Ame88]

Ahh, finally someone who thinks similarly! Yup, I agree 100% that the internet is nothing but a tool. You can use it to your advantage for so many things. Need help on a project? Internet's got it. Need advice? Got that too. Need to find a song? Got plenty of those as well. But of course you can use it to hurt yourself, too. Look up something that effects you the wrong way, post something embarrassing, do something dumb. As you said, it's a tool just as a hammer is. You can use it to hang pretty pictures, or bash your finger over and over again.

I would have to disagree when it comes to people saying that the internet is bad and terrible, because it's only bad and terrible if you make it that way. Nobody ever said you HAVE to put your information out there, it's entirely up to you. It's a tool for you to use- you're in control here, not the program.

Personally to me, people now-a-days are constantly using the internet to try and boost their ego- I mean, just look at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube even. 99% of people I've run into and know who are on those medias and more, use those sites for a self esteem boost. Why? Because everything now-a-days is about status. That mindset has even crept into games like this, if I really want to go there. I want to believe that's because of the world today and how we're going about things, in my opinion. For Instagram, it's all about getting those likes, and getting a check beside your name. Facebook, again with the likes and shares. Some people get, what I like to call, a dopamine shot whenever they receive a like, comment, share, ext., when they get one of these small insignificant things. The reason I call it that, is because our brains tell our body to release the chemical within our bodies when we get something that makes us happy. Something so simple as a compliment can trigger this. So, whenever one would get a like, or a comment- and so forth, then our brains give itself a dopamine shot as a reward- or pleasure from getting said like. Thus why there's a craze over posting or getting online for some people. The same goes with getting a notification. That's why we hear phantom rings and dings, because our brains are looking for that signal. Pff quick biology lesson there oops XD

To be honest, as I see it, social media isn't the entire problem, but what people post on it that causes drama and whatnot. It's a pair, one has just as much blame as the other. For some reason, most people just can't sit down and have a conversation about something. Someone always has to be right or better. Back in the day, people could sit down and have a conversation, but now-a-days it's always a debate about something. I've met very few people who I can have a conversation with, rather than one of those spontaneous debates. Whatever happened to, y'know, agree to disagree, and not want to stab each other for it? We all have free will, and we can use it for good, just as much as we can for bad.

But that's just how I see it pff.

[Kuri]

Manipulation, exploitation of human nature, among other things, invent something and people will find a way to misuse it.