Though social media has only been around for about 20 years, it has taken over the world. These sites number in the dozens, including MySpace, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Nextdoor and Reddit. X has over 40 million active users just in the United States; Tiktok, over 90 million, according to statista.com. Globally, Facebook has nearly 3 billion users. Think of it: Over one third of all people on Earth use Facebook regularly.
It is no exaggeration that social media has literally taken over the planet. So even if we personally avoid it, we need to understand it. What does social media do to people’s minds and to society as a whole?
One reason social media has ensnared so many people is the fact that it is “social.” When people start joining a platform, they influence their friends to do the same. But that’s not the whole story. There were online meeting places online before, like forums and chat rooms, but none became household names like Twitter or Facebook.
Another factor is the smartphone. It put social media in millions of people’s pockets, within arm’s reach 24/7. But again, that’s not the whole story. Social media started taking off years before anyone had smartphones. In fact, the reason Twitter had a 140-character limit for so long was because when it first launched, the only way to tweet from a phone was via text message.
In my view, the single greatest factor in the popularity of social media is addiction. According to addictioncenter.com, an estimated 5 to 10 percent of Americans meet the criteria for social media addiction. That’s upward of 33 million people!
The site states, “Social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram produce the same neural circuitry that is caused by gambling and recreational drugs to keep consumers using their products as much as possible.”
For these companies, the equation is simple: More eyeballs equals more ad revenue. So they design the website or app to keep eyeballs glued to the screen for as long as possible.
The social aspect lures people in, smartphones give them easy access, and addiction keeps them coming back. But addiction to what exactly? Drugs addict because of chemicals that affect the brain. What “chemical” makes social media so addictive?
“[A] perpetuating factor of social media addiction is the fact that the reward centers of the brain are most active when people are talking about themselves. In the non-virtual world, it’s estimated that people talk about themselves around 30 to 40 percent of the time; however, social media is all about showing off one’s life and accomplishments—so people talk about themselves a staggering 80 percent of the time. When a person posts a picture they may receive positive social feedback, which stimulates the brain to release dopamine, rewarding that behavior and perpetuating the social media habit” (ibid; emphasis added).
In other words, the fundamental reason social media is so appealing is vanity. Every app is different and covers a different niche, but all appeal in some way to a person’s vanity.
Do you want to surround yourself with people who agree with you? Facebook’s algorithms have you covered. Do you want to lecture people but only feel like writing a single sentence? X is there for you. Want to show off your amazing singing or dancing skills? Record a Tiktok video. Do you have pictures of your house, car or personal style that will make everyone insanely jealous? Plaster them on Instagram.
It’s all vanity. It’s all about you. You are special. You deserve validation. And if you don’t get it with this post, maybe you will with the next.
Social media has turned narcissism into a video game. Every time someone tweets a snarky joke or posts a selfie or uploads an amateur music video, he is pulling a slot machine lever, hoping it will provide the attention he is addicted to. The results of this gamification of vanity are plainly evident in the current generation, which has grown up on social media. Young people aspire to be social media influencers. Think about that: Their whole goal in life is not to become great at some sport or musical instrument or something that could lead to fame and recognition—it is simply to maximize their following on social media. They have found the shortcut, the cheat code. They don’t have to put in all that work; all they have to do is talk about and take pictures of themselves.
Even more disturbing, social media is a potent tool for the radical left. The people pushing racial and gender identity politics, transgenderism, acceptance of mental illness—their primary targets are young people. Besides classrooms, the best place to reach youth is on social media. How do they push their agenda? Vanity! It’s cool to be transgender. You are applauded if you announce your weird gender identity to the world. People pretend to be mentally ill because it’s trending. The left plays on people’s self-absorption to get them to accept and celebrate these satanic ideas.
Social media is doing immense damage to society, especially to family. Why should young people seek approval from their parents when they have literally the entire world ready to validate their choices? And how can parents even know what’s going on in their children’s lives when they too are distracted by social media? How often have you seen a family out together somewhere, perhaps at a restaurant, where no one was talking to each other because everyone was looking at his or her phone? They may be sitting next to each other, but they are all in separate worlds.
Social media promises to connect people, to give them a place to meet, to bring them together. Instead, the gamification of vanity is driving people and society apart. We need to recognize the moral rot at the heart of social media so that one day we can help people recover from this addiction and learn to connect in the real world.