Good evening everyone. Today's contest, which is apparently the last day of the contest, was about banning a certain app. Which app I would like to ban for life. Now I want to go a bit ahead and say that I actually want to ban not one but maybe two or three apps. And I have my reasons for it which might not align with the general Messi's. You could call me a bit extreme after these opinions but I would like to stand by them. Feel free to criticize me and also share your opinion on which apps you would like to see gone and maybe what sort of changes you would want to see in an existing app which can make the experience better.
Before I started writing this blog, I actually went through the posts which were already posted. And I saw a good majority of people wanted maybe Snapchat or Instagram gone. And to them, I agree entirely. And I would like to add another app to that list and that is tiktok. Many may crucify me for this opinion. But yeah. If I start one by one of all my grievances against these apps then here goes. First of all, Instagram. It is not a one-dimensional app like the other two. As it has messaging, posting photos and many features, what I find most disturbing is the algorithm inside it. And the mindset of people using it. It has been a de facto kind of law that you should always post your best photos and videos on Instagram. And that your Instagram live should look picturesque. This might not be much of a chore for many people, but the other people find it very hard. They see these perfect lives on Instagram and they think maybe they are behind or maybe that they are not good enough compared to the people they're seeing pictures of. I myself have sometimes felt that maybe I could do better or that these pictures are way too much showing off. And if you go ahead and look at the news, you will see that there are court cases actually running on these exact reasons. It was about young children getting manipulated by these perfect photos into believing that they have it worse than others. And they can't simply match their lifestyle. They got a sort of depression from it. So I guess it's about the mindset. And if it can change, maybe the app can stay.
Then there is tick, tock and Snapchat. My question is why do we need Snapchat? It's primary. Focus is to send and receive photos between friends. But don't we already have other apps which can do so granted Snapchat was the first to introduce stories. But the most disturbing thing about Snapchat is the streaks. That is maintaining a send and receive sequence everyday. A break of one day and your streak is gone. I have seen many people lose their minds over such a measly thing in my surroundings that it is sickening. Then there is tick tock. I have seen so many people around me who waste away hours of their day. Just Doom scrolling is also very alarming. This new format of short videos that tick tock has introduced has also been tampering with people's attention span and dopamine. And it is only done hard. People cannot concentrate on things for longer, they are spending a lot of their time in a day just to scroll through more of such videos.
So if you really ask me which apps I want to ban, it would be Snapchat, tiktok and Instagram in that order. I actually just want people to live a more present life instead of scrolling and clicking photos without experiencing it first. Because they have to send it to someone or show it to everyone and make themselves bigger. This whole competition is a waste. I think. Facebook and WhatsApp do a pretty good job of keeping contact between people. And I believe we should stop there because the other ones we have are simply a glorious waste of time.
I don't totally agree with you that they all should be banned but I like the fact that you know the truth, some features on these apps or these apps are needless and the fact that you know that many of the contents aren't true: that it has over time tried to shape a perception of how younger generation see things and are sometimes depressed or desperate.
At same time, social media is still good but the use has been abused too many times x a billion. Business still thrive because of social media, companies, entrepreneurs, agencies can reach more people because of social media. I just hope there can be a proper balance to its use.
I appreciate that you have your own opinion and you simply don't agree with me. It's totally fine. I in fact talked about this in the blog that it is very much possible that you will not agree with me. I personally find a lot of social media to be a waste of time for those who don't make use of it, such as you mentioned, for businesses.
Yes there are good sides of social media and many have actually turned their life around. But for every life turned there is maybe 10 lives which have halted I think.