When every little thing is at the touch of your fingertips, you'd think that the world is heading for better places. However, just like any futuristic Disney or Pixar movie, the future always has it quirks.
Here's what's wrong today with our social media:
1. Facebook: Flags or Friends?
While some may revel in the thought of the flags, whether they be the gay pride flags or the pray for Paris flags, flags have been a big culprit of bullying. Instead of being a way to unite people who think similarly, they've been the perfect way for the first-class-cyber bully to pick you away from the crowd.
Some responses I've seen so far to the Pray for Paris flag: "You've got the Pray for Paris flag? Sheesh, what a terrible privileged white person who only cares about white deaths." "Praying for Paris? How about stop praying and being decent human beings?"
It doesn't matter if you know someone in Paris or you aren't trying to push your religion, suddenly, it doesn't matter. Because you're posting support for something, someone else thinks they have the right to tell you you're doing it wrong. And it sucks.
2. Yik Yak: Help or Harm?
Yik Yak may be dead in some places, but sometimes, I like to browse on it, and more often than not, this is what I find:
"Hey, I'm struggling. I feel lonely." "Ever feel like you want to kill yourself?" "Man, I am way depressed, wish I had someone to help me." etc.
Going to a top tier school, I wouldn't expect anything less, because anonymity is a great tool for receiving help when you would rather text or do it privately. And while sometimes I've seen some responses that give me great hope for humanity, I've also seen some terrible ones. I've seen responses that tear you down. I've even felt the pain (one of the reasons I stopped posting) of thinking you're funny and then having someone rip your thoughts to shreds. So while anonymity is great, it's also another great source of bullying. Yik Yak has rules for not posting things that harm others, but I don't think it's monitored that closely. Yik Yak should team up with one of the texting helplines – it could save some lives.
3. Vines: Just right or totally lame?
Vines are meant to be short, sweet, and funny. While I've seen some really great ones worth a laugh, I've seen some not so great ones that have also made me laugh. Instead of keeping with the spirit, these often get passed around and made fun of for terrible reasons. I know, I know: If you don't want the world to see it, why post it? Well, the answer is some people are very optimistic about the sort of attention they get, and perhaps without all the cyber-bullying, they'd get the kind of attention they need. If the wrong person gets a hold of these videos, it can be a lifetime of shame.
4. Instagram: Hot or not?
Instagram is a little harder to defend, because in and of itself it's just pictures. However, with the world's great comparative mind, it isn't about how great one picture it is, but rather how one picture rates in relation to another. While you may be having a fabulous picture-worthy day, there is always some terrible person who is going to comment on your picture and tell you that you're ugly or you shouldn't have posted the picture.
I think that posting pictures of yourself is healthy, because sometimes, you don't have the eyes to see how beautiful you are. Social media should aim to support positive self-identity, not degrading comments. I wish offensive comments could be removed, but no one seems to want to deal with the trouble.
5. Facebook Again: The ultimate source of evil or fairly helpful?
Facebook is by far one of the most complicated social medias to evaluate, because it has so many flaws as well as perks.
As previously mentioned, the flags are out of hand. While they can unite people, they can also help others target victims of bullying.
Friends list are just as destructive as they were on Myspace: who is on our list? How many people have flags? Are they are invited to your Christmas party?
Posting normal pictures is ten times more scary than what you'd think posting nudes would be: people take your everyday selfies and tear them down until you finally remove them.
Ranting is looked down upon, until it's not: you're either a hero or you're crazy. Some people don't want your "drama" on Facebook, while others rush to applaud you standing up for what you think.
Religion has no place: it's just not safe. If you post anything about being religious, you're attacked by people of no faith, the same faith, and of different faiths. You're either doing it wrong, doing it too publicly, or told you shouldn't be doing it at all. It's okay to fly certain flags or have certain profile pictures, but posting something about religion is the number one source of bullying on social media. And isn't that weird? That the one thing that defines, normally, how someone lives their life is targeted? Crazy.
You can't post on everyone's timeline, or you've an overbearing friend – but if you forget someone's birthday, it's hell to pay.
The list goes on, and here is my conclusion:
Social media is destroying the way that we should be uniting with the world. Instead of using its information for love and unity, it's used as a way to bully and tell other people they aren't doing something the way that someone else believes they should be. Social media needs better bully monitoring policies, because perhaps then, we would have the ideal world of sharing news without bullying.
