Don’t Quit Social Media: It’s Time To Take The Power Back

The Algorithms vs. You

I’ve just about finished reading “Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now” by Jaron Larnier. It’s good. It’s so good, it might actually convince you to quit one or more of the social networks that you use daily as part of your everyday life.

Don’t do it

It’s Time To Take The Power Back

Now, just because I’m advocating for you to not opt out of social media as the book title suggests, doesn’t mean I don’t agree with many of the points Jaron brings up. They’re valid — incredibly so and I found myself nodding in agreement with much, if not most of his hypothesis. Which in a nutshell is this: social media is chipping away at our free will, our happiness, the truth, and it’s turning us into assholes, removing our sense of empathy — one tweet, gram, snap and post at a time. Maybe you’ve felt it… that empty feeling you’ll sometimes get when scrolling through endless feeds of people living their best lives while yours feels less than. Or maybe it’s that other kind of empty feeling you get after engaging in a debate of ideas. Or maybe it’s another kind of empty feeling you get if your “content” didn’t get the attention you hoped for.

It’s true. As much as social media connects us, it has the potential to disconnect us.

One step forward, two steps back.

But we’ve got to take the power back. Because for every thing about social media that has the capacity to do harm — there is the ability to do good. In Jaron’s book, he uses a metaphor to describe the current state of platforms and their algorithms as being akin to paint when it was still made with lead. The point being that paint is a good thing but at one point included toxic elements and platforms today are similar in the toxic elements they have yet to be purged of.

Social Media Diet And Nutrition

The metaphor I would use is diet and nutrition. When I noticed that my teenage boys were getting into some questionable content across multiple social platforms, I sat them down and used a simple analogy — one I knew they would grasp. I compared the questionable memes and content they were constantly consuming to junk food. Sure it tastes good. It’s satisfying, in the moment. But ultimately it’s empty calories and too much in your diet will lead to health issues. They got the point.

We take control back when we begin to think of social media as any good thing that can be taken too far or indulged in too much. Our social media diets may need some adjustment. Some of us may be getting too much sugar, too much fat, maybe not enough protein or nutrients that sustain rather than deplete. Or we simply may be overeating, binging and gorging on social media to the detriment of our physical, emotional, and social well being.

Humans vs. Algorithms

A popular narrative in the tech space is the competition between human and artificial intelligence (AI). But that’s not in my opinion as existential as the brewing conflict between humans and the extent algorithms have control over our digital worlds.

Algorithms are today’s Matrix to borrow from some dated popular culture likely to show my age. They dictate what news you see, what information you get from friends, what comes up when you search the Web, what videos you may like, what products you may want… on and on the list goes. While having control over our data may be THE debate of potential Big Tech regulation, today we can take back control from pervasive algorithms more than we think and know.

We’re not confined to what’s in our newsfeeds — we can use search engines to validate what’s real or not at any time. And while Google’s own algorithms exert influence, we can dig and compare beyond a single source or platform. In the daily battles between algorithms and humans, we have more options than we think — but it takes work.

I’m not ready to quit social media, but I’m ready to take the power back. We’re still in the early days of grappling with algorithms and platforms. And while toxicity exists in something with so much benefit and value — making some significant adjustments to our social and tech diets can be the first step toward independence.

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