The Social Dilemma

 

The Social Dilemma is a documentary about the impact of social media on users and how technology companies manipulate society and human psychology. As someone who did not have social media, or even a phone, until high school, I can definitely tell it has made a difference in my life. 

Many people, especially younger kids, can easily get addicted to social media if that is all they have known. My generation was the first group of kids that had social media available to them in elementary school and middle school, and it shows. Rates of anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and suicide have gone up tremendously, starting when social media was initially available to the public. Many people, especially girls, around my age and younger have developed severe anxiety, which may, in some way, be related to social media usage.

For many people my age, it is also hard for them to go without their phones for an extended period of time. While there are times I can't seem to put down my phone, it also is not hard for me to go extended periods of time without my phone. If I am going somewhere with my family, many times I will leave my phone at home because there is no need for me to bring it. If I am at work, I'm not looking forward to a break just so I can be on my phone. Many times, I do not even look at my phone on breaks. Lastly, if I am in my dorm or at home with nothing to do, many times I will watch a movie or show and I will not look at my phone for hours, which annoys my friends if they try to text me!

So, the question is, does this correlate to the fact that I did not have a phone or social media early in life? I did not get a phone until the end of my freshman year of high school and I didn't have any kind of social media until my sophomore year. When I first got my phone, I was on it all the time because it was new and I was very excited about it. But, at the same time, I was old enough when I got social media to know that I should only be friends with people I knew and I should not post all the time. Since I was not friends with many people or posting often, I was not getting many notifications. Therefore, I was not even opening the platforms that often, which helped me to not get addicted to being on them.

My siblings also did not get a phone or social media until they were in high school and none of us have ever had anxiety or depression of any kind. While it could also do with the fact we were all raised the same way, some of it could also be from not being exposed to social media at a young age. While it was frustrating at times not to have a phone when everyone else my age did, I am thankful now that I did not, because I believe it has had a positive effect on me in so many ways.