BREAKING DOWN FACEBOOK Nowadays, getting locked out of your Facebook account often means losing access to your Spotify, Tinder, or any of the other sites you can sign into through Facebook. The amount of personal data social media has access to grows all the time, and it can affect your private and What Is ‘Decentralization’ and How Will It Change Social Media? This anarchy also makes it much easier to conceal illegal activity. In an age where identity theft, financial fraud, and selling user information are more digital than ever, it’s important that users and businesses alike have full confidence in the security of their online pages where clients interact with them— especially if information, goods, or services are exchanged.
A 2019 Gallup poll found that 55% of Americans report feeling stressed on a daily basis, which is 20% higher than the global average. Stress is not inherently bad; some stress can give us that push we need to take action or meet an important deadline. But chronic stress can be deadly. Stress causes your body to release adrenaline and cortisol. In large doses, these hormones can lead to an increased risk of anxiety, depression, weight gain, headaches, and heart disease. In order to avoid these health risks, it’s important to develop healthy strategies for stress management. Social media decentralization was once a pipe dream for activists, but Dorsey has recently revealed his hopes for redesigning his social media software to put the power back in the users’ hands. Zuckerberg also admitted in a Harvard interview that decentralized software is “quite attractive.” Currently, Facebook and Twitter live in relative anarchy. Their sheer size makes them nearly impossible to audit or manage, which makes falsified information and propaganda infamously easy to pass around. professional network. Thankfully, a few tech CEOs, such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, believe social media decentralization could give users greater control over their personal information.
A decentralized system could split the massive, unregulated wilderness of Facebook and Twitter into user-managed “neighborhoods.” Rather than relying on one centralized server that holds over 2.45 billion users, businesses and individuals could host their information on their own computer. This would give businesses and individuals much greater control over their information and how they share it. That’s not to say there aren’t risks associated with decentralization. If unprepared, private hosts could be left defenseless against hackers. Some critics even suggest that a push to decentralize could just be an attempt by Twitter and Facebook to dodge responsibility by moving data off of their own servers. While decentralization offers solutions to some of the problems of social media, it’s an approach that requires cautious implementation. Only time will tell if decentralization’s benefits outweigh its risks.
HOW TO BETTER MANAGE STRESS
Exercise is a very common strategy for stress relief. Physical activities like going for a run or a bike ride, doing yoga, or taking a tai chi class can improve your physical and mental well-being. Other effective forms of stress relief include meditation, volunteering in your community, relaxing with a book, working on hobbies, or talking with a friend. Perhaps more important than developing healthy stress management habits is recognizing the bad habits you’ve developed around stress. Harvard Medical School warns of the dangers of unhealthy responses to stress, which can include:
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Binge-watching TV
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Sleeping too much
Withdrawing from friends and family Throwing yourself into social situations to distract yourself from your problems
Lashing out physically or emotionally
Smoking more than usual
Taking prescription or over-the-counter drugs for the purpose of stress relief
Overeating Undereating
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Taking illegal or unsafe drugs
Overindulging in alcohol
By identifying the unhealthy habits you’ve developed in response to stress, you can work to replace them with healthy alternatives. If stress has you reaching for an extra bag of salty treats, go for a run or call a friend instead. If your bad stress habits have become addictions, seek professional help to break free and put yourself on a better path.
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