Social Media

Project Description

This project is an inquiry into how social media is having an impact on myself as well as larger society as a whole.

Social Media Addiction Survey

After taking a quiz called the "Am I ADDICTED to social media?" QUIZ, I realize I probably use social media a bit too much. The results were as follows:

You're fairly reliant on social media, but there are far worse culprits! Still, it's good to be reminded that UK adults spend an average of 8 hrs 41 mins on screens every day, and 4 hours of that on smartphone apps alone (mainly social media). That's about a third of each day checking apps. Do you need to rethink your social media habits and the amount of time you spend scrolling?

I find that when taking these quizzes, one tends to answer questions in a way to try to steer towards an outcome they desire. I tried to approach this quiz in a very stern, but honest way, e.g., One probably doesn't consider LinkedIn to be social media, but for the purposes of this quiz, I did (I still wonder if anyone has ever actually found work on LinkedIn). There were questions about looking at social media first thing in the morning as well as letting social media affect your mood that is compelling me to take a more honest look and reconsider my habits.

Social Media Statistics

I'm well aware of the concept of availability heuristics, but what surprised me most was, how much, not only people in general that say they use Facebook, but the top users are my cohorts, the ages 30-49 age group. It seems that among my friends, there's almost a point of pride in claiming you deleted your Facebook account, and there are even posts on Reddit where people are describing going back to their Facebook page after months or years of not logging on. It's making me ponder just how many people are claiming they do not use Facebook, but are still doing so in secret.

Social Media's Impact on Society

I think social media's impact on society is multifaceted. I think the specific platform is important in considering the impact as well. For example, I think YouTube has been, overall, a net positive: it has led to a completely different medium of content creation ranging anywhere from tutorials on how to do things, to music videos long after MTV decided to ditch them, to people from humble beginning creating entertaining content. These days YouTube has adopted a broader approach that mimics it's social media counterparts i.e., Instagram or TikTok, which in my opinion, I don't think has been an overall positive on society. I try to take the position, where, just because I don't like or understand something ,it isn't inherently bad: but I also feel getting bombarded with videos that are mere seconds long, have little to no structure (in the sense of storytelling), and is designed with the priority of keeping people engaged, isn't helping society at large. I feel this is often listed as the culprit for people's declining attention spans. I remember an interview with Jameela Jamil, where she revealed that scripts for Netflix, Prime, etc. shows and movies are being written/produced so that people can look at their phones while the show/movie is running. In my opinion, the arts are suffering in that regards. On the other end of the spectrum, and equally detrimental, are podcasts that are hours upon hours long. This can range from innocent, like watching people being silly playing video games, to dangerous, where they can espouse certain viewpoints ad nauseam, with little to no fact-checking: which in itself can serve as a form of brain washing. Social media has gotten very efficient at capitalizing on people fears and emotions and if we're not careful, it's probably not hyperbole to claim it could also be the very thing that unravels society.

Lessons Learned

The biggest lesson I learned is not that I spend too much time on social media, I already knew that, but rather it is sometimes the first thing I look at in the morning. It never occurred to me that often times looking at social media before I've even gotten out of bed can set the tone for the day. It's making me realize if I just HAVE to look at my phone in the morning, I should stick to Duolingo and not Reddit or Youtube.

Sources

(2025, January). "AM I ADDICTED TO SOCIAL MEDIA?" QUIZ. Retrieved from TIME TO LOG OFF: https://www.itstimetologoff.com/wp_quiz/am-i-addicted-to-social-media-quiz/

Gottfried, J. a. (2025, November 20). Americans' Social Media Use 2025. Retrieved from Pew Research Center: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/11/20/americans-social-media-use-2025/

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