Previously, social networks attracted people because they combined mass communication with personal communication. These platforms are now dominated by video content published by foreigners. Something like hyperactive TV is being created. At the same time, open publications, such as letters in e-mail, are increasingly placed in closed groups.
It is known that applications related to social networks occupy almost 50% of the screen time of smartphones. So that’s more than a quarter of a person’s total awake time. They also spend 40% more time today than in 2020.
The thing about social media now is that it’s not social anymore. So fewer and fewer messages are being published there. These are replaced by different clips. Moreover, it is presented to the user not according to their social connections, but according to how they behave when viewing other content. Discussion of private life is being moved to closed platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram.
But all these changes also have disadvantages. For example, instant messengers (messaging applications) are not monitored in any way. And if this is good for small groups, it is the opposite for groups with more than 200 thousand participants. Misinformation was also spread on WhatsApp by Indian politicians.
Additionally, now the user appears to approve of the content, even if they only view it, helping it to “go viral.” And it might be something fake. Another problem with existing social networks is that there is almost no real news about them. It is now known that only 19% of adults share news on social networks every week, and in 2018 this rate was 26%. In general, today’s youth rely on social networks as their main source of news.
Source: Ferra
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
