Are The Negative Effects of Social Media Outweighing the Positives?

I don’t know if my opinion is going to hold any weight, given that I am not old enough to have existed in a world where social media did not exist, so as always, take my thoughts with a grain of salt. It is still just an opinion.

I’ve experienced some extreme negatives and extreme positives when it comes to what social media can bring into your life, and while I feel that isn’t a unique experience, it is still relatively unique to hear it discussed publicly outside of the realm of Chris Hansen style predator trapping or short, snappy PSAs.

In regards to positive things social media has brought into my life, I feel it has allowed me to make and maintain friendships and relationships I otherwise would be unable to. I also (unpopular opinion I know) really like some forms of recommendation algorithms, like ones that guide you towards certain products you wouldn’t think to buy otherwise. It has led me to really interesting projects to help fund and small businesses I can support. I also feel like it has allowed me to make my hobbies a lot less socially isolating, such as reading, gaming, and Dungeons & Dragons, as I can find online communities to discuss how I’m engaging with these things.

In regards to the negative aspects of my life that social media has been a contributor to, a lot of the sexual abuse that I endured during my preteen, teen, and late teen years occurred or was facilitated through social media. I also find that there is a particular group of types of activists on the left that thrive on social media and spend the majority of their time purity testing, grandstanding about how progressive they are, and shaming those who don’t have a squeaky clean record of being politically aligned from the womb or disagree with them. Accelerationists who desire for political violence and see it as the only means of achieving our goals substantially also thrive in these space, as well as those who try to excuse and even praise the abhorrent actions of the major so called, “communist” world leaders of old. Finally, I’ve witnessed so much bigotry take place on social media, while not directed against me, but many people who I am friends with, follow, or in general respect in some capacity. The semi-anonymous nature of social media I think emboldens people to say things they wouldn’t normally say to others because there are not as immediate and obvious social repercussions.

While I feel like many people may not agree, I believe that in a vacuum, most social media sites are neutral services (exceptions being the likes of 4chan, KiwiFarms, 8chan, and others of its ilk). I think their net goods balance out their net harms in a general sense. But when there are spikes in illegal, harmful, or discriminatory acts on social media platforms that are deemed to be more than the usual trolling and rage bait, or could be alluding to taking actions off their site and into real life, I do believe that if no action is taken by the platform to mitigate these, they should be held accountable and liable for not preventing or acting upon what was occurring. Acts that come to mind is revenge porn, doxxing, continued and consistent harassment, violating uses of people’s likenesses (such as superimposing people’s faces onto pornography, or making pornography of them using AI), death threats, and the use of these platforms to solicit illegal paraphernalia (be it illegal porn, hard drugs, illegal weapons etc).