Social media can seem insurmountable if you are eager to create a better future for yourself and others. The spiral of bad news, bad takes, and outrage can leave us cynical, helpless, hopeless, and disengaged. An awareness of how social media operates can help us navigate it with consciousness so it does less harm to us, you aren’t contributing to the harm, and perhaps you can even leverage it for better tomorrows.
There are certainly upsides to social media. It helps me stay in touch with friends from afar, learn from voices I may not otherwise be exposed to, helps me translate my kid’s “sigma,” “skibidi,” and “Ohio rizz,” and gives me a welcome distraction. Despite these fun, entertaining, and informative aspects, it also incentivizes the worst and disincentivizes the best in us.
Monetizing Our Attention
Social media companies make money from advertisers. Advertisers pay more or less, depending on how many views the content gets and how it holds our attention. Because our attention is monetized, everything is organized to hold our attention as much as possible.
Amplifying Engagement (all kinds)
To hold our attention, social media amplifies the posts that get the most engagement. Your likes, shares, and affirming comments get amplified, and so does your hate-watching, sharing in disgust, and commenting about how untrue it is. All of that counts as engagement, which helps the post get amplified to more folks to garner more engagement (for and against) and hold more of our attention, so that advertisers can be charged more money.
Incentivizing Polarization
This system incentivizes posts with the most agreement and most disagreement. It encourages the most polarizing content as it has a chance to double the engagement by attracting the attention of those are for and against. The more strongly folks agree and disagree, the more likely they are to engage in some way. This incentivizes the most polarizing content to be shared and the most likely to be seen in your feed.
Perpetuating Echo Chambers
We create our own echo chambers with those we share perspectives. When we see a particular perspective so appreciated by those we friend, follow, or are connected with it can seem that everyone that matters agrees with us, leaving us to conclude that those who disagree (or vice versa) are not worth engaging or considering.
Disincentivizing the Best of Us
This whole system disincentivizes nuance, complexity, compassion, balanced, and informed content. It also disincentivizes thoughtfulness, changing our minds, consideration, and engaging across differences.
Breaking the Cycle
We’ve seen this happen with politics, vaccines, and sports. I worry about what aspects of our society will be dramatically impacted next (higher education?). Here are a few ways I’ve been working to break the cycle both as consumer and contributor:
- Recognize the algorithm and avoid its temptation.
- Curate lists and feeds that bring you the voices and perspectives you need.
- Contribute what you are seeking. For me that is nuance, compassion, healing, hope, joy, and nature.
- Notice your outrage and its temptation. Outrage is so close to excitement neurologically that it can feel good and give us positive reinforcement.
