Social media and it's problems
Social media has done a lot for people. Social media has allowed people be connected in numerous ways in different mediums such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, and others.
There are also lots of problems with social media. One of the problems that comes with social media is dependency. People who use a lot of social media mediums often becomes dependent of them. Social media has been an addictive to many people where most of the time during the day is spent on social media. Another problem with social media is that people's lives is contained into it. People who post everything about their lives is all in once place for everyone to see, and that is the problem. Having a person's information such as where they live, where they went to school, who they know, etc, creates a vulnerability. These are just some of the problems with social media, but is there a way to fix it?
Fixing social media isn't an easy thing to do. To fix the problems that come along with social media would have to be done to every social media platform, but that I don't believe that is something that is possible. To be able to fix the problems, it has to be done by the users. People have to control themselves when it comes to social media like being able to cut back on how much they use it. If people do that, then their dependency would be cut down.
One social media platform that is a big culprit is Snapchat. Snapchat is used by millions of people and those users often have the problems that was said before. One of the ways that Snapchat creates a dependency is from people always waiting for someone to answer back, or for someone to look at their "story", which is post on Snapchat that can be viewed by the person's friends for 24 hours. Snapchat creates an atmosphere that have people hyperfocused on their platform which makes the person addicted. The addiction of Snapchat is mostly contributed by the amount of time the person spends on it. More time someone spends on Snapchat, they want to keep staying on it whether it is to post a new thing on their "story" or to check if someone has opened their message or if they replied. Snapchat has controlled most of people's lives, and the only way to fix the problems that Snapchat is if the person cuts back on their use. One way that is possible can be done if the person has an Iphone. Iphones have the ability to freeze an application such as Snapchat once they have reached a certain amount of time on the app. If more people used this ability and others like it would help with the problems that come with all social medias.
One person who has similar views is Jaron Lanier. Jaron has the view that social media sucks people in and makes people addicted to it. I agree with what Jaron says becuase I believe that other platforms such as Facebook create a "blackhole" that make it so that people don't stop using it. Companies like Facebook sell information to 3rd parties that make it so that the person that is using Facebook has custom ads that are presented to them and makes the person continue using it. One of the concerns are being addressed by people sueing companies like Facebook and Google for selling data that contects people to what they like and what they do. Another way that these concerns are being addressed is used on certain devices like Iphones. Iphones have the ability to show if an app or service is using certain things like the devices microphone or camera, and can also show if you are being tracked. Iphones can also block the certain apps and services ability to track your location. If other devices did these certain things like block tracking or locked apps after a certain amount of usage, the problems that social media bring up would be helped.