I Have Some Terrible News About Social Media

A really short (phew!) essay

(Pictured: Author wears child’s captain’s hat because that’s all they had on the Halifax boardwalk 📸: Adam Sanders)

I have some terrible news about Social Media.

The worst part about social media has been revealed.

It’s not that Elon Musk has way too much control and is influencing elections for his own fiscal benefit and as a very expensive alternative to just getting some goddamn therapy.
Though that is pretty bad.

It’s not that Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta (the banner under which Facebook and Instagram live) has removed fact checkers and allegedly decided it’s cool to call gay kids mentally r******* in an effort to, in his words, support free speech.
Though that is pretty bad.

Here’s the really terrible news about Social Media…

It turns out the ‘social’ in ‘Social Media’ is us.

Just like, and I vehemently maintain this view, the worst part about live theatre is the audience.

(It’s true. I’d almost bet money that 9 times out of 10 the thing that ruins a live theatre performance is some dork in the audience.)

Without us ‘Social Media’ just becomes ‘Media’.

Are the billionaire gasbags in charge able to influence our behaviour?
Yes… but only with our permission.
Why?
Because I think we like it.

We like fighting.
We like being unfiltered and uncensored.
And urgh… we’re tired of having to be responsible for our own conduct.
It scratches a primal itch.
Like peeing outside.
Which is fun until all your neighbours are doing it too.

The Zuckerbergs and Musks are happy to let us be our worst selves.
Idiots make excellent customers… for awhile.

When you teach people to be stupid…
they rarely get smarter.

So, what to do about this scourge called ‘Social Media’ before it ruins us?

Take it back.

Act better.
Don’t reward terrible behaviour.
Don’t amplify garbage information.

Maybe that’s too tall an order for a population that rarely seems able to get its shit together for its own good.
I live in hope.

We are the ocean upon which Musk and Zuckerberg sail their ships.
They can guide their crafts and cut through our waves…
but they don’t control the tide.

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Thanks for reading.

As a guy who makes his living off of social media, these are scary times.
I don’t want to be part of the problem and I also want to pay my mortgage.

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Thank you again!