Blog Post #3


As this weeks topic could be anything related to the course thus far, I have decided to further unpack social media and the topic of FOMO, or the fear of missing out. This topic was from a previous week however, the concept was really interesting to me which is why I wanted to revisit it now. In lecture, we discussed our inability to fully quit social media even though its dubious nature has become clear to us, such in the case of Facebook and data leaks. This topic really had me thinking of why I haven’t personally made the commitment to step away from social media, and this notion of FOMO struck me as the main reason. I had deleted Facebook the app, but not messenger, and for some reason I couldn’t fully say goodbye. This notion of FOMO was exactly the reason. I feared the lost potential to stay in connect with friends and stay in the loop of social communities. But does social media like Facebook actually give us these benefits?

I found this particular study which shined some light on this question of the promised benefits and its hidden consequences. The study quoted that individuals experience “a decrease in personal privacy, increased detachment from friends and family, increased feelings of loneliness, and dissatisfaction with one's life” while using the social media platform, but FOMO creates a cycle of use that hinders the user’s abilities to escape these consequences. Some individuals, just like the teens featured in The Guardian that we read earlier in the course, willingly disconnected and reported seeing improvements within their social lives and mental well being. This brings me to question if it’s ourselves that keep us tied to social media or is it the social medias design and their idealized affordances that keep us from quitting. The study was particular interesting to me as in its conclusion is also states possible ways in which the study of social media can take shape in the future. They offer the idea that social media designers should partner with psychologists in the future when designing platforms since these unforeseen consequences emerge possibly from its structure. What do you guys think of this? Should developers work in tandem with psychologists to ensure these consequences are controlled and prevented? Will this even work?

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 17, 2018 at 6:11 AM

    I definitely think that the design of social medias work to keep us tied to them for many reasons such as its' accessibility and algorithms. Additionally, we see promotion of brand/company/personal/etc twitters in advertising all around us, in television shows, in public places, on the radio, you name it. All of these things and more make social media a huge source of information and entertainment for us, on top of it being a place for expression and sharing. This then leads to the notion that if you stay off of social media, you'll become out of the loop on things such as meme culture, celebrity gossip, real life gossip about your friends, news, trends, new norms, internet jokes, and more. When I have thought of backing off from social media, these are typically the things that stop me from pulling the plug. The fear of missing out on all the knowledge it provides me.

    I definitely think that there is a lot of room for study to be made on this topic with psychologists and developers, however I do not necessarily think that much control or prevention being the outcome of it as it would not be beneficial for the apps/companies behind the social media bodies.

    There is clearly a lot to discuss and uncover when it comes to FOMO, psychology, and social media. Thank you for getting my brain thinking about it in your blog post!

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