Rebel Tech AllianceSocial media challenges
Before looking at why social media is so hard to leave, you might first want to remind yourself of why social media is such a problem: read this article about the implications of social media surveillance, or this one to see the shocking extent of it. We also recommend the excellent BBC podcast series The Gatekeepers to hear about the history and the harms (you'll have to search for "Everything Is Fake" in your podcast app, then find The Gatekeepers episodes within it).
Addictive
Power-grab 101: if you want to surveil and control the masses keep them distracted. And not just distracted - addicted. Smartphone and social media companies employ psychologists to deliberately hack our brains and hook us to their products. They use tricks like variable rewards (from slot machines in Vegas), and exploit natural tendencies such as FOMO, to keep us hooked. Couple all that with the products being free, and it's no contest. If you feel nervous when you are separated from your phone that not you being weak - you've been hacked by Big Tech.
In fact, before you go any further, we recommend you listen to this podcast episode "How We’ve ‘Drugified’ Our Entire Existence: Dopamine & Addiction In the Digital Age" in which the various levels of addiction to digital media are discussed in detail. It's a fascinating listen.
Dependency: the toll on mental health
A subset of addiction is dependency. Social media is bad for your mental health. Many of us have known that for a while but we keep coming back for more. In adults that is bad enough, but for children it is much worse. Watch the excellent documentary Molly vs The Machines or various other videos linked on our Parents page, to see just how lethal social media can be for children. The companies know it, and they let it happen anyway - to boost engagement.
💡 If you're struggling with addiction to your phone then you might want to consider this innovative (physical) way to restrict usage of the worst apps: the Brick
The Network Effect
Beyond addiction the main challenge with moving away from Big Tech social media (SM) platforms is the network effect. You're there because everyone else is there. If you move and they don't... then it's not useful.
The way to overcome this is to move away slowly in small groups, for specific purposes.
Ecosystem thinking
Another challenge to moving to better social media is ecosytem thinking. This is where you think "I need to have everything under one roof". This is a barrier to leaving Facebook in particular. It has messaging, a social feed, photos and groups all in one platform.
Just apply the 'don't put all your eggs in one basket' maxim, and you can get away from ecosystem thinking. You can find specialist apps for each functionality you need, and they can connect if they are decentralised (e.g. federated apps in the 'fediverse').
Anti-democratic
As Jamie Susskind states in his book The Digital Republic, big tech social media is set up as
"a privatised system of discourse that operates between consumers rather than citizens, according to merchantile rather than democratic norms"
In other words the values and principles guiding social media platforms are commercial rather than democratic. The platforms prioritize profit and market logic over public interest, equality, or the free exchange of ideas.
So now you know: on those platforms you're being
1. surveilled and played for advertising cash
2. constantly manipulated by their algorithms
Ten arguments for deleting your social media accounts
This author listed ten arguments:
- You're losing free will
- Quitting SM is the best way to escapte the insanity of our times
- SM is making you into an asshole
- SM is undermining truth
- SM is making what you say meaningless
- SM is destroying your capacity for empathy
- SM is making you unhappy
- SM doesn't want you to have economic dignity
- SM is making politics impossible
- SM hates your soul
Do any of these resonate with you? #4 and #9 hit hard for us. Destroying truth and increasing polarisation is a brutal double whammy. But even if these problems don't seem to affect you personally - zoom out! They are affecting billions of people, so indirectly you, as part of a wider society, are threatened.
We would add another reason:
11. SM makes Big Tech incredibly rich, and has empowered them to grow into the politics-meddling monsters that they are today.
A word about Snapchat...
We don't even offer an alternative to Snapchat. Just don't use it, and especially don't let your children use it. Why? They've started targeting children and matching them up with predators. On purpose. For 'engagement'... 🤢
Read more here: https://www.npr.org/2024/10/04/nx-s1-5137218/snapchat-brushed-aside-warnings-of-child-harm-documents-show