Social media algorithms turn people into products, but do Carver students care?
By: Shannon Darsono
April 3, 2024
Social media apps like TikTok and Instagram have been on the rise and they have been affecting people’s screen time with their user based algorithms. Carver students have mixed feelings about the issue, standing between using social media algorithms as a product for their own use, and being a product of social media algorithms.
Vinny Gainer, a senior at Carver, offered to show the statistics of their screen time on their iPhone. They had a daily average of 5 hours and claimed their top three social media apps were Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. They have spent a total of 7 hours this week on Instagram, and almost 2 on TikTok.
“I use it ‘cause my friends use it and normally I’m just talking to my friends through the app,” Vinny said.
Along with wanting to limit their screen time more, Vinny believes the user-based algorithms on these social media apps is what keeps them on these apps more, in contrast to if these apps weren’t based on user-data and interests.
“Social media in general, just like, killed my attention span. I can’t focus very well anymore because social media is all about like, quick clicks you know? Nothing there to keep your attention there for longer than like five minutes,” said Vinny.
On the contrary, some students don’t think they’re really affected by social media algorithms. Maxwell Guigar, another senior at Carver, doesn't believe he’s as affected by social media compared to others.
“I found a healthy balance for myself,” Maxwell said.
Maxwell is aware about the basis of how algorithms work and their influences, and claims he’ll use it to his advantage to achieve feeds on social media that cater more to his liking. Despite that, he doesn’t believe he’s a product of the algorithms social media pushes since he doesn’t think their goal fits his agenda or that he feeds into it.
“Like, look at the whole Stanley Cup thing, where it's this cup that was originally this thing, like Stanley Cups were made for these for working class people. And they got a couple influencers to kind of poke at the Stanley Cups, and now they artificially create a trend. I think that that's really dangerous. And something that really is like, harmful,” said Maxwell.
It’s known that excessive screen time has negative effects. The suggested daily average of screen time for adolescents is around 2 hours according to doctors, and research has suggested that excessive screen time affects sleep due to the blue light that’s emitted from these devices, altering circadian rhythms along with other complications.
“Oh, it’s definitely not good to have it. It has affected my, uh what’s the word? It’s like, I get more distracted a lot more than I think I will, but it’s also really hard to tell if that’s just like how my brain works or if it’s boosted at the very least by it,” Maxwell said.
With the recent TikTok Ban Bill that’s currently in the process of being passed on the senate, it may change people’s daily habits or screen time as TikTok is almost a daily part of many peoples lives, the app having over 1 billion monthly active users. One of the arguments made in the bill about TikTok is how it may be a national security threat due to concerns of user data privacy.
Many other social media companies also collect user data, whether it’s to enhance user-based algorithms or sell data for profit.
“I don’t think it’s harmless, but I don’t care,” Vinny said.