The Good and Bad with Social Media - Part 1
Part 2
By Barrington H. Brennen, October 11, 2021
Recently
in the international news, there has been much to say
about the danger of Facebook, especially to children and
young people. This month in the United States Congress,
a whistleblower, Frances Haugen, a former data
scientist at Facebook, reported that “Facebook harms
children, sows division and undermines democracy in
pursuit of breakneck growth and "astronomical profits."
This is not surprising. Many have been concerned for
years about the negative impact of not only Facebook,
but many other social media platforms on the minds of
the young and old. However, I have a question for you to
ponder. Is Facebook and other social media platforms to
take all of the blame, or should individual
responsibility also have a major part to play?
Truthfully, if one does not use Facebook, that person
will not have a “social media addiction.” That person
will not be trapped by the misinformation, conspiracies,
and lies propagated through social network's algorithms.
Let us look at some statistics from
Datareportal Website. The report shows that
there were 4.48 billion social media users around the
world in July 2021, equating to 57 percent of the total
global population. Here are the top fifteen social media
sites in the world with the number of active users: (1) Facebook: 2.74 billion active users. This is 35.5
percent of the world’s population. (2) YouTube: 2.291
billion active users. (3) WhatsApp: 2.0 billion active
users. (4) Facebook Messenger: 1.3 billion active users.
(5) Instagram: 1.221 billion active users. (6) Weixin/WeChat:
1.213 billion active users. 7) TikTok: 689 million
active users. (8) QQ: 617 million active users. (9)
Douyin: 600 million active users, (10) Sina Weibo: 511
million active users, (11) Telegram: 500 million active
users. (12) Snapchat: 498 million active users. (13)
Kuaishou: 481 million active users. (14) Pinterest: 442
million active users. (15) Reddit: 430 million active
users.
India is the country with the largest number of FaceBook
active users—over three hundred million.
According to the 2021 statistic report on Facebook
users: “There were 259 800 Facebook users in The Bahamas
in February 2021, which accounted for 62.9% of its
entire population. The majority of them were women:
53.6%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group
(81 000). There were 1,504,000 Facebook users in Jamaica
in January 2021, which accounted for 51.6% of its entire
population. The majority of them were women: 53.1%.
People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group
(510,000).”
Facebook was launched in 2004, YouTube in 2005, WhatsApp
in 2009, Instagram and Pinterest in 2010, and Snapchat
in 2011. It seems as though these burgeoning social
media platforms are truly i
mpacting
every country and nearly every citizen on earth, even
more than traditional headline news, secular printed
books, or revered sacred literature.
What must we do with this new method of sharing? Some 17
years ago, all local and world news, advertisements,
personal information, and family gossip, were being
communicated to the world via controlled
media—newspapers, printed books, websites. Today, anyone
can share any information at any time with limited
restrictions. Is that bad? No. The problem is that
social media giants themselves utilize algorithms to
bombard viewers with information of their interest. What
are algorithms in social media? “Algorithms in social
media platforms can be defined as technical means of
sorting posts based on relevancy instead of published
time to prioritize which content a user sees first
according to the likelihood that they will actually
engage with such content.”
Have you noticed after searching the web that the next
time you visit your Facebook page you will see
advertisement of the same product you were looking for
on the web? That is due to algorithms set up by the
media providers to lure you into the mindset to purchase
that product. It is not just about making it easy for
you to find what you want, but it is about money. This
is one way the social media owners become rich.
WHAT’S GOOD
What is good about Facebook, WhatsApp, and other social
media platforms? First, they allow anybody, anywhere in
the world, to do what they could not have done just a
few years ago—advertise and promote without cost,
products, events, and services to friends or even the
world. Second, they allow everybody to keep in contract
with family members and friends anywhere in the world
through video or voice messaging without charge. It
makes it possible to send nostalgic photos, birthday
wishes, announce birthday parties, engagements or
marriage anniversaries announcements, or promote
concerts. More excitingly, social media makes it
possible for anybody to view or listen to live concerts,
historical documentaries, debates, weddings, funerals,
church services, professional seminars, and more,
without a direct cost. In reality, many churches and
other entities are having more people attending their
meetings via social media during COVD19 than they have
had years before.
WHAT’S BAD
Ease of accessibility to information through social
media may create emotional and intellectual dysfunction.
There is no longer any need to go to the library or to
order a book to read or research. It is all at the
fingertips and it is free. Many children are accidently
coming across websites or information that are
emotionally or intellectually damaging without parental
knowledge.
A research article titled “The 15 Biggest Social Media
Sites and Apps” states: “YouTube is also one of a tiny
selection of social media platforms that reaches
incredibly young age groups. A 2020 study conducted by
Pew Research revealed the following about the viewing
habits of US children under the age of 11. (1) Eighty
percent of parents say their children watch YouTube
videos. (2) Only 19% of parents say that their children
don’t watch YouTube videos. (3) More than half of
parents said their children watched YouTube at least
once a day.
Wow! Could it be the same in The Bahamas?
Do you know what your children are watching on YouTube?
Part 2
Barrington Brennen is a marriage and family therapist.
Send your questions to
question@soencouragement.org or call
242-327-1980.
