I’m 28 years old, so I’m right on the cusp of Gen Z. I started posting videos to YouTube when I was 11 and made my Facebook account when I was 12. My adolescent years were defined by social media platforms and trends. For the past three years I’ve been in charge of social media for an outdoors store I work at, spending much of my day on social media I’ve watched these platforms nosedive. This past year has been a particular stand out, as people are noticing that their newsfeeds are increasingly overrun by spam accounts and pages they don’t even follow. Another trend I’ve noticed is everyone wishes these social media platforms could revert back to how they used to be. Back to when they were mostly for keeping in touch with people you knew in person and had less features to keep you hooked.
Everyone seems to have social media, everyone seems to be hooked to it, but nobody seems to like these platforms anymore.
It’s no secret social media platforms are free because they make their money from advertising. The longer we are on their platforms, the more advertising we see and the more money they make. The more addictive these platforms are, the worse they are. No one I’ve talked to actually enjoys the current state of social media, but when these companies are putting profit over our enjoyment, I don’t see these platforms getting any better.
Recently I deleted all social media off my phone. I’ve noticed only positive changes and it took until now for me to realize just how addicted I was.
I’m not anti-social media, I want better social media. I’m trying to stay positive, but I don’t see a future we’re these social media platforms get any better.