By Kana McNiff
There is a misconception that social media was originally created with the best intentions, which is not necessarily the case. Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of FaceBook and the CEO of Instagram, originally created FaceBook when he was a college student. Facebook was meant to be an archive of Harvard students’ faces. People could rank and judge students and was originally named, “Face Mash”. From the get-go, FaceBook was designed to degrade people. As the network grew and more people began to hear about the site, students from other universities began to join.
After FaceBook, other social media sites began operating. Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), FaceBook and TikTok are the top four social media platforms as of 2023. Billions of people are using these platforms worldwide. In the last 25 years, depression rates have grown by 70%, with one in ten people reporting that they felt depressed. This statistic leads one to wonder, is social media the cause of the increased depression rate? In a survey of those aged 18 – 22, 40% stated that they are “somewhat addicted” to social media. Social media can make people feel bad about themselves, their body, or their life.
Practice living without social media. Start small by turning notifications off or limiting your screen time. Before using social media, be aware that nothing on social media is “real”. Your friend posting about their vacation in Hawaii might be battling a mental disorder. The celebrity that posts their red-carpet photo shoots may not be as glamorous as you think. The lives that Instagram posts depict are only one side of the story.
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