The most important invention in your lifetime is…
To identify the most important invention of my lifetime, it is crucial to define what is importance?
Importance is a value judgement or influence of something according Merriam Webster..
The word importance carries with it an inherent connotation of positivity.
Penicillin was important to health.. electricity was important to civil development…
However, ‘importance’ can also embody a disruptive aspect. World War I & II were important occurrences of the 20th century, but they weren’t positive experiences for humanity.
Social Media is the most important invention of my lifetime..
I remember clambering to the computers in a nook of our school library with my high school friends, all desperately trying to sign-up to Facebook. I was in year 12 and this new social media platform had just been released.. little did I know the impact it and the subsequent ‘chats’, ‘grams’ and ‘toks’ (amongst others) would have on the world.
Social Media was a greatest advent for free speech and expression in decades and was the Vox Populi (Voice of the People in Latin). Connecting loved ones, Businesses, Politicians Scientists, Journalists and Activists the world over.
There are approximately 2.7 billion active users on social media (Verduyn et al. 2021).
Social Media platforms have become a marketplace for goods and services as well as ideas. My friend uses the online marketplace to sell everything from clothes to washing machines.. the possibilities are endless.
Social media allow the once impossible forming of relationships despite of constraints, barriers of time, distance and beliefs. It allows a transcendence of the cages of society for Love Birds to meet and thrive.
Social Media saved thousands of lives through the Coronavirus Pandemic by allowing dissemination of health information and signposting the availability of medicine/food/other resources to the masses.
Yet, it was a platform to infect the minds of millions with unfounded conspiracy theories from both sides of the ‘is Coronavirus real?’ debate or ‘are vaccines safe?’
There is a dark side of the Social Media moon.. numerous studies on mental health and the impact of Social Media have found detrimental impacts of using such platforms over time.
It would be foolish to ‘throw the baby out with the bath water’ so as always I am taking a reasonable approach to assessing the importance of Social Media in society today.
There is no doubt based on sociological studies, psychiatric theory development and basic common sense that Social Media is having a detrimental impact on the very core aspect the platforms stand for ‘Social!’
Research shows that Social Media provides people a false sense of connectedness (Amedie, 2015) when in reality people they connect with online are either deliberately or ignorantly purporting a facade of their lives. People are romanticising these superfluous relationships in cyberspace and forgetting the real human connections they should be fostering.
We have to remember that simply glimpsing a social media post or pictures of someone doesn’t give us holistic insight into someone’s life. Their Social Media persona is just that a drop, a static snapshot in their dynamic flowing ocean of their life.
Another finding is the opportunity cost Social Media can impose on your ‘me time.’ People incessantly scroll through hundreds of posts for hours on end, all the while thinking this is my time. In fact, they’re not using the that time to really sow into their own lives but have become a spectator into the lives of others. That time could have been used to do important work or to truly relax and unwind..
Social Media is used for criminal activities from bullying, terrorist recruitment, inciting hate against minorities or child grooming… take your pick.. Social Media has its dangers relating to crime.
Social media doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it was formulated and works within the context of human nature and society that predates Social Media. It does however, heighten those pre-existing traits of jealousy, competition and comparison. People see others with a new watch.. they must have one.. they see someone with a new dog.. they must have one or see someone taking up a new hobby… they suddenly develop a love for axe throwing..(or any other random hobby they would never normally take up).
As I started out saying… importance is how much something contributes.. I feel Social Media has become an integral part of our lives today.
Social Media is an incredibly important invention..however, I must warn you… just like fire cannot be used without understanding and respecting its ability to burn… so too with Social Media.
Ultimately, the manner in which it’s used and the importance we place on Social Media is what determines if the impact is positive or negative…
I encourage my readers to do their own research as I have..
Interesting Reads:
Noble, T. (1970). Family Breakdown and Social Networks. The British Journal of Sociology, 21(2), 135–150. https://doi.org/10.2307/588404
Verduyn, P., Gugushvili, N., & Kross, E. (2021). The impact of social network sites on Mental Health: Distinguishing active from passive use. World Psychiatry, 20(1), 133–134. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20820
Amedie, J. (2015). The impact of social media on Society. Scholar Commons. Retrieved February 7, 2023, from https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/engl_176/2/
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