2021 Reflections : How Much Do We Know About Social Media?

Allow me to acknowledge that, as you well know, the world is in flames. You know there’s a virus out there, and you obviously can’t truly wrap your mind around it but you know that this virus has travelled more in the span of a year than any of us will ever travel throughout our lives. You also know that there is a vaccine for this virus, a promise of eventual normality that is being distributed at the same pace that the sun rises in the winter, which, as you know, is painfully slow. You also know, even if sometimes you seem not to know, that there is a world out there beyond Iceland. And even if you know that Iceland is doing well at the moment, you also know, even if you sometimes pretend not to, that everything that happens in this outside world has an impact on what happens in Iceland. 

That brings me to this: Do you know what is happening out there? Of course you do, because in this all-knowing world it is impossible not to be connected, as you well know. And like everyone else stuck at home knows, the best way to stay in touch with the world is through social media. I know what you’re thinking: Reading and watching the news does not necessarily involve social media. But you also know that once you have consumed media content – assuming, of course, social media does not play a role in giving you a heads up on the world’s latest developments – you need to express your opinion about it. I am sure you know that the best way to do that is through the countless social media platforms that exist today. 

I need not highlight the benefits and setbacks of social media, because you know them well. If you do not know them, you will, sooner or later. But beyond pros and cons, there is an aspect of society that is quietly escaping our notice, which I suspect most of you already know, but prefer not to. You know that social media platforms thrive – which is a fancy way to say “make their income” – on advertisements. And you know that advertisements flourish – a fancy way to say “have an excuse to exist” – through user engagement. The more you engage people using your platform, the more these advertising companies will see you as an appealing business prospect. This is interesting because – and you already know this – this business model fundamentally alters the nature of what social media is meant to represent. If social media’s ultimate goal is to engage you – a nice way of saying “to manipulate you into using their platform” – then it is no longer the tool it claims to be.

Graphics / Margrét Aðalheiður Önnu Þorgeirsdóttir

As you well know, a tool is an artifact, or object, sitting quietly by itself waiting to be useful. But if social media is constantly trying to engage you, vying for your attention, then it ceases to be a tool. You know the sinister tales of the social media algorithm whose sole purpose is to keep us coming back, at the expense of our emotional, physical, and mental well-being. See, the purpose of this algorithm is to document, compile, and assess our behavior through sophisticated data collection. In other words, it studies us until it knows us better than our own parents. This data is of tremendous benefit to social media conglomerates, since it allows them to select content that is specifically meant for us, allowing them to bombard us with suggestions and posts and news about the world, about our friends, and just about anything that will keep us engaged. By “keep us engaged” I mean “throw everything at you so you keep using the platform.” To most of us, this might sound like something that we already know, or have already heard about. If so, it is even more worrying. Ask yourselves: If you already know this, have you really reflected on what it means?

I know, most of us find social media’s suggestions and advertisements annoying and distracting. Until they are not. Sometimes, these suggestions present themselves in the form of notifications, updates on our friends and family members’ status. See, we are all being monitored – a nice neutral word used to disguise the alarming truth, which is that our data is being watched, studied, and documented - so that our data can be made into a profile, which will then be exploited for commercial benefit. This might not sound too bad, but you know that social media does not always play to our advantage. Ask yourselves: What happens if social media starts reminding you of people you would rather not hear about, like an ex, or of private matters that affect your emotional and mental well-being? What if your newsfeed constantly bombards you with biased information sources just because an algorithm determined that your profile is best suited for a particular way of thinking? You know how this can damage emotions and radicalize opinions. You know full well how it can engender division. You know this, I know this, we all know this. So why are we not talking about it more? Why is it that, when we emotionally crash, or when opinions become so radical that dialogue is obliterated, we fail to hold social media companies accountable? 

Like me, you must be thinking that, yes, the world is now faster to point its finger at social media to account for several of our present dilemmas. And still, I do not know if we truly comprehend the extent to which social media has, and continues to, change the world. That is just something to think about, and in this time of lockdowns and pandemics, we should take a moment to reflect on everything we truly know about social media, which is sadly still not enough.