By Jose Ramirez
The Internet is an ever-evolving place of creativity, communication, and inquiry. Yet even with all of the pros it provides, it is a place where many feel inhuman. Empathy is at an all-time low, and people have expectations of gods from their favorite influencers and online celebrities. Even looking past that, many people can’t focus on important news for more than a month, according to Google’s statistics.
But why has this happened, why do people show less love and care, and is this problem improving with time?
People in the world show less love on social media for the simple fact that there is less human interaction in the conversation. There is no face, no real expression, just text, and simple emojis. It's harder to recognize there is actually a living human being behind the screen. A Forbes article titled How To Be A ‘True Empath’ In The Digital Age—By A Psychologist puts it perfectly, “technology strips away vital indicators of empathy from our conversations. That is gestures and non-verbal signals that show others that we are listening, understanding and caring—which are the predominant means of displaying empathy.”.
This is one of the factors that makes it easier for people to be cold to others. But why has this happened? Well, one of the biggest factors in the modern age is one of two things: Covid quarantine and the major divide in politics and beliefs.
COVID made everyone stay indoors for a year straight, many missing major social events and more losing friends with the distance made. It dullened social skills for many and left people pent up with frustration. This, I believe, added more fuel to the slow-burning fire.
Because of this frustration, it was easier for the division to occur. There was more disassociation from person to person and from profile to profile. Many had personas, different identities, and personalities from their online self and real self. This made it easier for people to do things they wouldn't have since it was an escape.
Added to the fact if you weren't a teen or a kid, you were getting stressed out about the dwindling jobs and money, some relying on the stimulus packages.
Now, with the second part of this fuel, there is the division. Social media can spread information greatly and quickly, but it also can trap you. Algorithms are designed to keep you on the app and make you happy with the content you are viewing. Because of this, many people get trapped in echo chambers and hear information that may be incorrect about things they dislike.
This can cause villainization, where people start to judge and hate just for simple differences in belief that have been heightened by social media. This has been shown through research and social media in general. For example, The New York Times, in an article called “How Social Media Silences Debates,” says, “And in some ways, the Internet has deepened that divide. It makes it easy for people to read only news and opinions from people they agree with. In many cases, people don’t even make that choice for themselves. Last week, Twitter said it would begin showing people tweets even from people they don’t follow if enough other people they follow favorite them.”
This toxic culture is known throughout the online community. If you don't support the majority, there has to be something wrong with you or maybe you're misinformed. This all just gives people more reasons to villainize and hate each other more.
But the world is starting to notice this, and many are pushing for change. Many are protesting to remove these eco chambers that are kept for profit by these social media companies. Because outrage keeps people on their sites the most, they would want to indulge in it.
Some may say that social media isn’t this bad and that it can come together to stop horrible things and support things that are in dire need of help. To an extent, I agree. It has been shown time and time again that social media can help gather money for people in need or bring light to a dire cause. Yet, for how long can the attention of something so large, like social media, only be so big? In fact, it's rather short, and mainstream attention is rarely given to things that need it. For example, Ukraine vs Russia, and their war was outperformed by Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard for one month.
Change starts with one person. We can all choose to be kinder to each other, choose to hear each other, and not judge before knowing what comes next. To put social media away when it comes to gathering unbiased information.
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