Social Media Can Do You Harm

This article reminds us that we are constantly getting rolled on social media, and that it can do us harm. Many things in modern society, from the manicured niceness of the suburbs to our fragmented religious yearnings, encourage comparisons where we fall prey, because we can’t help but fall short. 

What is reality? Our great challenge!

We often consume edited and fictional content unknowingly on social media. We forget that people can simply make things up and present it as truth. We—or I should probably just speak for myself here—I don’t browse these platforms expecting to be deceived, and yet I am deceived constantly. The imaginary and fantastical are presented as reality. This feels quite dangerous. 

Social media has exposed the fragility of truth. Often the spread of misinformation on these platforms is discussed in the context of politics and a threat to our democracy. But the more time I spend on the apps as both a creator and consumer of content, the more the threat of misinformation feels personal—it threatens the way, consciously and subconsciously, I perceive myself. And the internal study Haugen exposed showed that I am not alone. But truth and fact are not the priority for social media platforms—because truth and fact are often not as interesting as fantastic fiction.