With the world at our fingertips, one would think we would have a better perception of reality than ever. In reality, though, we have instead entirely lost ourselves to it. Humanity has doomed itself to the most widespread addiction possible, and the worst part?
We never even noticed.
The negatives of technological advancement have been debated time and time again- and no one ever has a true solution or conclusion. Many times, the criticism has become redundant and hypocritical; any of us can list all of the things wrong with social media, but do we have the strength to put our own phones down? The answer, in most situations, is no. But what we can do, is be aware of and willing to fight against the constant stream of lies we are fed. We must be aware of the fact that we are abused, and we must be aware of just who is abusing us.
Corporations abuse us. They have gotten in our ears and convinced us that we need all of these different objects, that, just like a drug, give us only temporary happiness. We have drained our wallets for them, and they have taken that money to leech upon the planet we live on to sell us more useless products. Social media has gotten their message across louder and more widespread than ever.
Influencers and celebrities abuse us. They have subjected us to exaggerated dramas, cheap products and a vision of a “perfect” reality that simply does not exist. When these images of perfection reach our heads, human nature is to imitate. When we cannot imitate these images, a perfect home, a perfect relationship, a perfect body, our self esteem takes a turn for the worst. Are influencers responsible for this? Not entirely, but to say that they do not feed into it for their own benefit would be foolish.
Politicians abuse us. Both sides use social media as their outlet to point fingers, to lie, to do anything but fix the problems they love to complain about but hardly face themselves. People are regularly targeted with blatant propaganda from both sides, used not to inform them but to sway them. We are tools in the quest for power, not the quest for change. They benefit from the political division, the same division that has brought America into a significant era of radicalization and violence. Social media has been used to convince us that they care for us, one of the biggest lies of the century.
One does not tackle a drug addiction by eradicating all substances on the face of the Earth. The negatives of that far outweigh the positives. It is unrealistic to expect the fall of social media. It will only grow, and it will likely bleed into every aspect of our lives. One does deal with addiction, however, by pinpointing exactly what they are addicted to, and finding other, ideally healthier, ways to fill the void. We must begin reading and consuming genuine, human-made art– finding ways to open our minds rather than relying on our phones to numb them.
If we cannot stop now, how far are we willing to go?
