Anish Ghimire

According to research, an average individual spends about 2 hours and 24 minutes per day on social media in 2020. If a person uses their phone, then they are spending 50.1 per cent of their time on social apps. Globally, a whopping 4.48 billion people are active on social media. We have a rising population of 7.674 billion people. This means 56.8 per cent of people are actively interacting through social media. There is no doubt that this modern world relies heavily on internet media. Latest events, news, information, facts, or any other happenings are delivered through social media to the people consuming it.

Positive effect
As per GlobalWebIndex, the residents of the Philippines have the most screen time on social media, i.e. 3 hours and 57 minutes a day. And the last place goes to the Japanese with just 48 minutes of social media time. Between April and September (last year), 83 per cent of all internet users favoured social media. Out of those, only 24 per cent admitted that this kind of usage has a positive effect on their daily work.
Previously, social media was an escape from the real world. But now, the real world is an escape from social media. This digital addiction of people has been deeply planted in their brains. At times, we don’t even realise that we are addicted to it. When we are bored, we scroll the digital platform. When we are tired and don’t feel like doing anything, we scroll. Waiting for a bus, traveling, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, while cooking, and no matter when. We don’t need a great reason to open our social apps. If you don’t realise this trait, then the addiction has penetrated through your system. And it’s not for a good cause.

The majority of the apps are designed to be addictive. The creators of such apps outsource people from the entertainment industry and ask for their advice to make the apps addictive. Many years back, there wasn’t a feature called “story” on social apps. But Facebook, Instagram, and even YouTube now allow this feature. These additions are there to make people stay on the apps more. Why does messenger have games to play? Why a Google search engine has millions of results when you type in one word? Why Instagram has a story highlight option? Why do Facebook and Instagram have a search button so that you can explore the contents you haven’t “liked” or “followed”? Why do these apps shower you with additional content saying “You might like these” or “suggested” or “recommended”. This is for making users’ experience addictive, to further dissolve their momentary state in the hands of ever-flowing and never-ending digital feed.

More and more features are added to prolong the time of the user consuming digital media. The result of this is that our mind becomes overstimulated. Because we’ve been mindlessly scrolling, our brain is constantly exposed to the feed offered by these apps. They are literally called “feed” because we are the consumers and they feed us with their contents. Our brain becomes drained with over circulation of information. It becomes so hectic that our mind stops responding actively. We feel drained and exhausted. In such a way, the road for critical thinking and creativity is blocked. The never-ending feed of these media bloats our minds. Imagine eating too much and filling up your stomach to the extent you can’t breathe anymore. This is the same case. Instead, food is the “feed” and the stomach is our mind.

People have a lot going on in their lives. And the existential dread weighs down some people so much, that they need a way to escape reality. Some people choose real drugs while some use the digital drug to escape the hideous reality. Mindless scrolling also develops from such a trait. To escape reality, one hides behind the curtains of the screen. Such habit results in more brain damage. In a way, the reality from which they want to escape becomes more bitter and unbearable. As stated above, the mind becomes overstimulated resulting in tiredness and exhaustion.

The “not-so social” media has made its users far less social in real life. In social interactions, the majority of people can be seen hidden behind the screen. It has become a facade for people wanting to avoid social interactions. Social anxiety is a real thing. And heavy usage of social media makes its users not crave face-to-face interaction anymore. Looking people in the eye and speaking to them seems like an uphill task. Users heavily immersed in social media have a hard time maintaining eye contact. They also lack good conversation skills when in a meeting with a person. The whereabouts of the host are not preferred but the Wi-Fi password of the host is in priority upon meeting. Real conversation is not a priority but the clicking of a “selfie” is a priority. Having a good time is not a priority but writing a caption “had a good time” upon posting a photo is a priority.

Digital scam
People don’t zoom out and reflect on this overstimulation. They let their mind and body dug deeper into this digital scam. At this point, one can say, the only two parties that benefit from social media are its creators and business owners who advertise their products. Otherwise, it’s just a platform where people fulfill their egos. It’s just a platform for toxic people to express their hate for the people. Otherwise, it’s just a place where two strangers argue over a social media celebrity. It’s a factory for the brain and to labour for nothing but be extremely exhausted at the end of the day.

As a saying goes, “When something is free, then you are the product.” Social media is free for us to use. We are the product. We are not the customer. The creators of social media earn money every time we choose to mindlessly scroll. In a way, we are the dumbest and the most high-profit product ever.

(Ghimire is a BBS student.)