Why Social Media is so Toxic

When my English teacher said, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” I believed her. We were taught that true quality is found not on the surface, but within.

That gave me hope because I knew I excel mentally. That is code for I am not very good looking.

Knowing that people would love me and cherish me for my humor, personality, unique way of thinking and kindness made me feel good about myself despite being overweight, short, and average-looking.

Of course, this was before the take over of the internet and specifically social media in every aspect of life.

Sites like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok have pushed people to fight for views, likes, claps, and praise. The way to get noticed is not by just telling a story, but by making sure that the story is packaged in the newest, shiniest wrapping to appeal to the masses.

Internet Famous

The overly filtered, fake, and doctored images of women in thongs doing yoga at exotic beach locations or perfectly tanned men with six-packs lounging on a yacht with wads of money by their side is proof that image is everything.

I am not saying I am immune from this shallow image-based race to be a successful content creator. I am part of the toxic machine that churns this vehicle.

The Good and The Bad

Social media has been a world-changing technology that has had both positive and negative influences on our society.

Bringing the world closer together, giving regular people a voice and chance to interact with communities they would have never been able to, are great reasons why sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram flourish.

Sharing stories of life, pictures, videos of cats, family vacations, and events in your area on the Internet, allows people to get a glimpse of other’s lives adding understanding and empathy for each other.

But, with the good that social media brings, also comes the bad. And recently I am starting to wonder which side is winning

Social media allows people to share their lives, but it also allows others to criticize, belittle, bully, and berate others on such a grand scale that it sometimes leads to depression and in extreme cases, suicide.

In May of 2021, a Japanese reality TV star, Hana Kimura, was bullied extensively on Instagram and Twitter and committed suicide due to the harassment.

Young children are often hounded by “influencers” to buy merchandise, dress a certain way, eat certain foods, listen to specific music, and think a specific way in order to be accepted. The Logan Pauls and Kardashians of the internet feed off of the image-hungry youth.

Even on Youtube and TikTok, everyone is wearing the same brand names, doing the same dance memes, and promoting the same diet or lifestyle products to cash in on the hoards of people watching and envious of the success.

Showing off your newest car, handbag, watch, condo, or remote island beach house is no longer considered vain, shallow, or superficial. It’s now considered lucrative.

Even on blog sites, where words and ideas are king, the first step to getting anyone to read your story is the title and image. And to further cement your superior status, having a boat-load of likes and being published in a successful publication boosts your credibility.

I am not jealous or bitter (ok, maybe just a bit), but it seems if your stories aren’t shared, your image is not attention-grabbing and there is no checkmark found by your profile, then the chances of your story being successful, no matter how good it is, will be slim.

The title, the thumbnail, the picture, the checkmark, the star, or the badge by your name all matter. The number of likes, claps, thumbs up, stars, followers, fans, subscribers, comments, retweets, all make or break your content even before someone clicks or watches, or reads it.

Will This Trend Continue

I don’t know about you but in my opinion, this is just the beginning.

As technology increases, the internet and online world further fuse into our everyday life. More people working from home, more jobs based on social media and online tasks. Companies and schools offering teleworking and online study options due to the pandemic. It all points to people requiring less face-to-face interaction and more online presence.

To compete in the online space, it will become even more important to stand out in the crowd, to differentiate your persona and skills from others, and for people to present the most polished, stunning versions of themselves.

In the end, my hope is that we can come to a balance and try to promote not only a realistic and positive image of ourselves to capture audiences, but then provide them with gratifying and quality content.

To reduce the shallow, toxic culture that radiates from all these image-based social media platforms, we must all look beyond the brushed-up models and click-bait titles and appreciate the content within.

The dream is to someday pick up that book with a nice title and cover design, and then find that the story inside exceeds your expectations.

That is the book that I want to be.

This article written by me also appears here: https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/why-social-media-is-so-toxic-49341bd4afe1