A Take on Gen Z’s use of Social Media

Two things about social media when used incorrectly:

1. It’s unproductive
2. It’s toxic

I often find myself deleting Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat every weekend just so that I really focus and be productive during the week. On the weekends I might find myself purposelessly scrolling through TikTok for hours (not anymore but during summer) and I wouldn’t even know that I’ve been on my phone for hours. The average user spends about 52 minutes on TikTok per day in addition to other social media. 1 TikTok can be around 1 minute. The scariest part is that you are one swipe away from wasting another minute of your day. The next Tiktok can be seen so easily so before you know it, you’ve gone through about 100+ of these videos, have missed the sunset, and feel the guilt and stress of not being productive from the from head to toe.

Toxicity. The bigger problem. Especially with Gen Z’ers.

Deleting Instagram and the Performance of Happiness

My colleague from Writ 150, Tess Botts, wrote a great piece on how Instagram is so toxic to one’s self confidence. I wanted to respond and say that I totally agree with the idea that posting a photo on Instagram is really like performing to the public. There’s such a huge and unfortunate emphasis on showing out for people that you don’t even know and having an aesthetic, “vsco” feed. It’s a sick obsession.

Gen Z’ers are always concerned about the “success” posts and profiles: “Did I get enough likes and comments?” or “Is my follow-follower ratio okay?”. Due to the fact that Gen Z’ers are evaluating themselves based on what other people that they may have never even talked to actually think about them, it creates this false sense of identity for them. If one has an account that has a lot of followers and gets a lot of likes on their posts, it may simply be due to the fact that the person has an attractive appearance. You can’t gauge someone’s personality based on one’s Instagram profile. It’s obvious that one would only showcase the best of themselves. In reality, that person could be stuck-up and rude. It’s very often seen that people who feel empowered from social media feel as if they are more entitled or better than those around them.

This false sense of identity and power from social media is what prevents people from developing their true identity that belongs to reality and that is known by the people that the youth physically interact with on a day-to-day basis. Gen Z’ers are deriving their self-confidence from a post. Your appearance only takes you so far in this world.

Unlike my colleague, Tess Botts, I don’t think deleting social media isn’t the best option for me, especially during quarantine. Now more than ever, being stuck at home all day, it’s important to stay connected with people and up to date with events going on in the world. The election is almost upon us, climate change is happening, and the virus is spreading. Social media can be used to receive news and engage in social and political discourse since the virus prevents us from doing so in person.

So what is the the Solution? How can social media be used properly?

1. When it comes to being productive, make sure that you set your limits for your usage. Set an alarm.
2. Make sure that you know why you are using social media. Make sure that that it isn’t for the wrong reasons stated above (creating a false identity).