At its core, social media holds out the promise of connection. A key idea behind Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and other platforms is that we can create rich networks of friends, receive frequent updates from people in our lives, and build a sense of community. On these platforms, it is not uncommon for someone to have hundreds of virtual “friends or followers.” Although people may have hundreds or even thousands of online “friends and followers,” they may have few actual people in real life that they can rely on, leaving many people feeling isolated and alone. All of this raises the question, is social media strengthening our communities, or is spending time on our phones and computers harming our ability to connect in person? Arguments suggest that social media use can have both positive and negative impacts on its users. Whether we experience it as helpful or harmful has a lot to do with how we engage, who we relate with, and what boundaries we decide to set for ourselves in our daily lives. Instead of pas- sively accepting the platforms as they are, we can be critical in how we engage, recognizing that if social media offers the promise of community, it is a community that we must create for ourselves. So, what can we as users do about it? Well in my opinion we need to save ourselves, yes just as big tech has designed their apps around grabbing as much of our attention as possible, they can also design apps around truly serving the user’s needs and helping us better utilize our screen time. However, I personally think it is a decision that we must make and manage on our own. Many platforms have implemented features to help users curb their phone and app addictions by taking a more ethical approach to the user expe- rience, but we can’t rely solely on technology to bring us back to ourselves as users, in the end, will have to make the final choice to limit usage and spend a more time living in the moment.
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JULY/AUGUST 2022 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • JULY/AUGUST 2022
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