A peculiar post indicating that Facebook might be bad for you was sent out on the 15th of December on Facebook’s corporate blog. The solution they offered- more Facebook.
This latest post was the most recent their new sequence of ‘Hard Questions’ which hope to target the worries surrounding social media and its strain on society. Posts included issues regarding trolling, terrorism, and whether we’re spending too much of our time on social media.
Generally, these posts pinpoint an ill within society, link it to technology and social media, then they address how Facebook can aid improvement.
“In general, when people spend a lot of time passively consuming information—reading but not interacting with people—they report feeling worse afterwards,”
Whilst acknowledging that social media certainly has a downside, authors (who were researchers at Facebook) identified that aspects of social media such as ‘like buttons’ are affecting mental health and relationships through blows to self-esteem.
“Passively consuming” was a key phrase used, referring to the seemingly robot like passive liking and sharing of posts. The solution offered was to use social media, but with real thought. “A study we conducted with Robert Kraut at Carnegie Mellon University found that people who sent or received more messages, comments and Timeline posts reported improvements in social support, depression and loneliness,”
So, although Facebook has admitted to contributing somewhat negatively to society, they’re not at all implying that the answer is to use it less.
Somewhat questionably, Facebook has identified the problems that it and other social media platforms are causing- but has identified that using Facebook, even more, is the solution.
So, although Facebook has clearly pointed out that certain characteristics of social media that are an issue in today’s society, it cannot help to be seen as some form of marketing ploy due to the supposed “solutions” we’ve been provided.
