Finished Terms of Service: The Real Cost of Social Media by Chris Martin this morning. It’s a basic primer on how the social internet has been engineered and is affecting our lives. It would be good for every teen being given the reins of a social media account (and their parents), as well as adults who’ve been swimming in these pixelated waters long enough to have forgotten, “it may not cost anything, but it isn’t free.”
One quote that stood out to me:
One of the most pervasive lies we believe when we engage with the social internet is that the more attention someone or something gets, the more valuable that popular person or content is.
That one lie is really best understood as two separate but related lies: (1) a trending or viral piece of content is inherently important simply because it’s popular; and (2) when people pay attention to me, they’re telling me I’m valuable. The overarching lie is rooted in the belief that attention equals value–that what is most popular is most valuable.
Because so many of us wrongly find our value in how popular we are, it follows that if attention equals popularity, and popularity equals importance/value, then attention equals importance/value. This is not true, but believing it can lead to some real, deep mental, emotional, and spiritual issues. (pg. 63-64)
I also found the section on how Instagram has inadvertently redefined “beauty” in some “unhealthy, obsessive, perfectionistic ways” very thought-provoking.
Instagram is no longer a mere virtual representation of real-world beauty. It has warped our understanding of what beauty is by creating a system in which beauty is defined by perpetual refinement, filters, and affirmation rather than raw, unfiltered, no-need-to-be-affirmed reality.
Instagram was created to capture beauty, not redefine it. Instead of being a place where people come to appreciate the magnificence of the world, Instagram gave us the tools to construct our own world–one that has so changed the definition of beauty that the real world could never compare.” (pg. 161-162).
Throughout the book, Martin explores five ways the social internet is shaping us…
- We believe attention assigns value
- We trade our privacy for expression
- We pursue affirmation instead of truth
- We demonize people we dislike
- We destroy people we demonize
…and offers six counterbalancing suggestions that could help us use these incredible tools a little more wisely…
- Study history
- Admire creation
- Value silence
- Pursue humility
- Establish accountability
- Build friendships
Martin’s plea to “stop scrolling for a moment and consider the state of the pixelated water in which you swim” would be well worth your time to read.