A Few Points About How We Use Social Media

1.     Tagging people, similar to “like” buttons and notifications, create social validation loops. When you tag someone into your post, you are asking them to validate what you said. You are not simply giving them information. When you “like” a Facebook post, you are letting others know where your values lie, and this creates additional validation.

2.     One physiological response to reading posts on Facebook or twitter is to create a flood of dopamine. This can become a kind of addiction, wherein you keep posting to get more and more clicks and “likes’ in order to get that bit of a rush when someone else likes what you posted.

3.     A filter bubble is “a state of intellectual isolation that can result from personalized searches when a website algorithm selectively guesses what information a user would like to see based on information about the user, such as location, past click behavior and search history.” The AI that is part of each social media site builds a filter bubble around you by sending you more content like that you have shown has engaged you. In other words, it sends you more of what you already agree with and with what you like.

4.     Over time, you cannot escape a filter bubble. And most people do not try; they enjoy living in that bubble. They do not see dissident voices; nothing upsets their equilibrium or their already entrenched beliefs. They live in isolation. And most people would categorically deny that they live in a filter bubble but would certain accuse others that hold different beliefs of doing so.

5.     Sensational headlines draw more clicks than informational ones do. I saw one the other say that said that Neil Armstrong said that the moon landing was built on a fraud. Given that there are still people who believe we never landed on the moon, the headline seemed to indicate there was something to that belief. In fact, the article as about him felling that his feelings about part of the landing were “fraudulent.”

6.     Creating outrage leads to more clicks. Every social media site in the known universe knows this and does everything it can to ramp up emotion in order to get you to visit. You are then kept in a constant state of tension and angst.

7.     We want others to always see us in a positive light. As a result, we seek attention via “likes” in groups from family and friends. We post comments and pictures designed to make us look in our best light and we get that rush from people liking things when we do. At the same time, the news feeds around us surround us with like-minded people, so it becomes homogenous, and this is then reinforced by a shared sense of group outrage.

8.     Anonymity then removes all social stigma from posting. People go to war against any threat to their filter bubble. This is seen as an existential threat, one that has to be destroyed. Expertise is disregarded over voices from the tribe. I have seen this far too often in chiropractic Facebook groups.

9.     Finally user control over anything in their social media world is an illusion.