We all know that social media is not healthy. Some of us might have seen the dangers of addiction, and others still the under-current of mental health issues that swirls around the whole shock/influencer/peer pressure/fake-existence/information disorder dramas that plays out 25×7.
Many folks put this down to poor self-control, an addictive personality, or simply deny the negative effects and focus on the much smaller positives. Usefully, we are starting to see the emergence of real science in this field, science not sponsored by The Zuck.
It is suggested that we are seeing the rise of a mass sociogenic illness in related groups. Much of this is not formally diagnosed, and falls into the grey area of undiagnosed or misunderstood neurological disorders. It’s certainly pretty serious.
It might be funny if it wasn’t, but young woman developing tics from TikTok. Sometimes these appear to go and develop into seizures. The mental health damage and long-term emotional scarring caused by platforms such as Facebook are well documented yet usage continues largely unabated.
Despite huge warning signs, the social media giants still plough ahead, lobbying, spinning positive stories, and investing billions to keep you engaged, desperately suckling from the dried teat of our modern day Wicked Witch from the West.
Remind you of anything? how about Big Tobacco in the 70s and 80s? Or Big Oil at any point over the last 50 years. We’ll look back, possibly, and be ashamed we exposed young minds to something so virulent and chronic. Especially as, secretly, we all really know how bad it is for us and society.
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