Hello, and welcome to yet another episode of my podcast. This week I'll talk about a very important subject. This subject is connected to each one of us. If you're on the internet and you're consuming content in any form, then this podcast is for you. We've all heard about social media addiction. We've heard about the issues with social media and the disadvantages of various social platforms.
Today, I will list. The big, big, big issues that are part of a tool like social media. This will be a two-part series. In the first one, we'll talk about the issues and the disadvantages and problems that people face using social media, which is also connected with mental health. And in the second part, which is the next podcast.
I will talk about the steps that you can take to safeguard yourself from this stool called social media and how you can use it to your advantage and make life simpler. So without any further ado, it's time to have a word with me. Rajive Dhavan. See you on the other side of the intro Music.
A review study from Nottingham Trent University looked back over earlier research on the psychological characteristics, personality and social media use. The authors conclude that it may be possible to speak specifically of social media addiction disorder because addiction criteria such as neglect of personal life, mental preoccupation, escapism, mood modifying experiences, tolerance, and addictive behaviour appear to be present in some people who use social media excessively.
That brings us to a key question. Why do people share information? A fascinating study by the New York Times consumer Inside Group revealed the motivations that participants cited for sharing information on social media on the positive front.
These include a desire to reveal valuable and entertaining content to others to define themselves, to grow and nourish relationships, and to get the word out about brands and causes they support or like, but there is a negative side as well. Social media has a reinforcing nature. It activates the brain's reward centre by releasing dopamine, a feel-good chemical linked to pleasurable activities such as sex, food, and social interaction.
Social media is nothing less than. Social media companies reverse engineer the platform to make sure it releases more and more dopamine for the users. Interestingly, there are only two industries in the world that address their customers as users. One is the drug industry, and the second is social media.
While at it. I strongly recommend watching the documentary "The Social Dilemma" on Netflix. It'll be a massive eye-opener for those who don't understand social media so well. Let's look at it this way. When something is free, we should generally question and understand why, and most of us don't do that. And in case of social media, it's not even a buy one get one free offer.
This is just perpetually free for everybody to use all the time with no restrictions, no limitations. But we all know that there are no free lunches in this world. In case of social media, however, Penny needs to be paid by the users, but what they're paying in return is a lot more than money. It's their time, health, and data.
Now, let's look at the other side of why people use social media or share content on social media. Well, it's a lot to do with validation for building an image that gives people a false sense of accomplishment or better self-esteem, even if it is for some time, even if it is unreal. Just the sheer kick in dopamine that these things lead to is the little joy that one keeps looking for, and then we begin to get consumed by all.
Social media has been linked to causing ill effects on mental health across various studies. Unfortunately, it affects most people without even them being aware of it. There's a strong link between social media and an increased risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and even suicidal thought.
Now that we understand pretty much why people share content on social media let us understand what exactly are the negative effects of social media. Step by step, one by one, the first insecurity about life or appearance. The big problem here is that even if you are aware that the content you're consuming on social media is manipulated, Or Unreal, it can still massively impact you at a subconscious level.
In the beginning, it's likely you will begin to feel insecure about your life, how you look. And so much more. Unfortunately, we all have a very chilled view of social media. We feel it's just a pastime or meant for entertainment only, but when it slowly begins to consume us from within, an internal shift begins to happen. Mostly, we are unaware of this shift.
The second big issue is called FOMO, which is the "Fear Of Missing Out". While it's a Gen-Z slang, it's far more evident and real than one can imagine. FOMO can compel you to pick up the phone every few minutes to check for updates or compulsively respond to every alert, even if that means taking risks while you're driving, missing out on sleep at night, or prioritizing social media interaction over real-world relationships. So this thing is real.
The third one is the biggest of them all, depression and anxiety. I am not a doctor or a psychiatrist. But as a digital marketer who's been in business for over 13 years, since the very beginning of social media, I can certainly vouch for the negative influence social media can have on one's mind, which would lead to things like depression and anxiety.
The sad truth is that most of us are not even aware of this. The fact is that most people are only sharing their best moments on social media. These best moments are only the highlights of their life more. The highlights of a cricket match that would just show the fours and sixes of a batsman, which just makes it look so easy and effortless and brings in a sense of envy.
The pain behind the inning just vanishes, and due to all this, we end up setting unrealistic benchmarks for ourselves. The next one is the teenager's impact. This one's a lot more serious than it is for adults, as teenagers have lesser experience in life, and there's a lack of knowledge as well. They are a lot more vulnerable too.
It's a tricky age bracket. We all know this. We all remember this from our teenagers, isn't it? Social media negatively impacts and affects teens, distracting them, disrupting their sleep and exposing them to bullying, rumour, spreading unrealistic views of other people's lives and peer pressure. So there's a lot more that's going on behind the scenes.
The next one is loss of privacy or data. Well, how social media companies handle user data is not even in the purview of this podcast, as that's perhaps the least important issue compared to the others. It's evident. And most people are aware that social media companies have had massive leaks of user data.
In fact, the big money that keeps pumping these companies and making them grow on steroids has been because of the kind of unmatched user data that these companies have. Loss of money is another aspect or an ill effect of social media. We don't even know how we end up spending more money because of social media.
But let me give you an example. Picture this, you thought of buying a new phone. You can afford it. You do look for information online, but you drop the idea because you just feel it's not necessary. Your current phone is working just fine, but in this innocent look, That you did on the internet just to get a hang of the phone.
You didn't realize that the backend social media bots have made a strong note of it. They know that you're on the fence. You do have the intent to purchase. What happens next? You begin to see paid ads and even organic content about the phone. Soon you also begin to see content about another phone that could possibly be better than the phone you wanted to buy in the first place.
And from the hundred people who are on the fence, 70 to 80 give in to the temptation and end up buying the phone. It's like a war. They're fighting and all this with no sense of awareness, and hence, social media is outstanding for the capitalists who want you to keep buying and holding stuff and spending money, so they continue to become rich and accumulate wealth.
Let's look at an example. Did you know that when the world was battling the biggest pandemic, And one of the biggest challenges in the history of humanity, Bernard Arnault, the CEO of L V M H, which owns some of the biggest luxury brands in the world, including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, and so many others, became the richest man in the world?
To give you an idea, his wealth grew from 98 billion US dollars to 150 billion US dollars from 2020 to 2021. All this in just about a year. These were the peak years of Covid 19 pandemic. How did this happen? Well, a lot of this is to do with his businessmen, of course. Then there's also the free money that the US government printed and handed over to the citizens who'd spend money to help small and medium businesses make more money, in turn helping them buy these luxury goods.
But a good amount of this credit can be given to social media as well. People were at home and living in the virtual world. They had more time to flash their luxury accessories. This resulted in a lot of people feeling that they were missing out on something great in life. Remember FOMO? Yup. Then this cocktail was mixed with one of the best sales tactics ever called fear.
Fear that what if I die? Life is too short not to fulfil my dreams and so many more stories that people told themselves. Slowly, the sales of brands like Rolex and Lamborghini also grew. For instance, 2022 was the best year ever for Lamborghini. Now, I'm not saying that social media is a bad thing, and we should all stay away from it.
There are a lot of positives to social media also, and these positives are unmatched as well. But it all depends on how we want to use this tool. Do we want to use it constructively, or do we want to use it for self-destruction? The choice is ours to make. So far, I've spoken about all the issues with social media, but this episode is not done yet.
In my next episode, I will help you understand what you can do to use social media more effectively, what you can do to make sure that you don't get addicted to this tool called social media and how you can manage and maintain your mental well-being while using social media constructively. That's all I've got for the week.
I hope you liked this piece of content, and if you did, please share. Spread the word. And I'm sure you will positively impact someone. Until next time, thank you.