Could you live with out it? Social media still dominates our lives but some now believe it may be nearing its end.
The age of social media is over says author
Could you live with out it? Social media still dominates our lives but some now believe it may be nearing its end.
The year is 2004. Construction on the tallest man-made structure to date, the Burj Khalifa begins in Dubai; The European Union adds 10 new countries; Millie Bobby Brown is born and so is Facebook and with it social media as we know it today. Eighteen years later, are we about to see the death of social media? One author thinks so and he is happy about it. "The age of social media is ending. It never should have begun," writes Ian Bogost in The Atlantic.
Social media didn't start with Facebook. Before that came Friendster, Myspace, Friends Reunited and a number of others long since forgotten. These days Facebook is Mostly for elderly relatives or perhaps you still linger to keep an eye on the few friends who may still post their holiday photos.
Facebook started life in Harvard University as a place to see who was in your class and their friends. It is now the third most visited website worldwide with 2.93 billion monthly users but questions about privacy and fake news have hounded the site ever since. The United States government's former head of technology even said that "Facebook destroyed democracy" after the 2016 presidential elections.
This has led to less people using social media use. Meta has lost $700bn with some saying that the site is in a "death spiral". Twitter and TikTok are also facing difficulties. Twitter has seen many users leave since Elon Musk bought the company. Musk has now said that "bankruptcy isn't out of the question". TikTok expects to make $2bn less than expected this year whilst shares in Snapchat are down nearly 80% on the previous year.
Some users also feel that social media leads to mental health issues due to its addictive nature. Marc Faddoul, co-director of Tracking Exposed, said of TikTok that: "It's not going to make anyone depressed overnight, but hours of consumption every day can have a serious impact on your mental health."
Despite its losses Facebook still has billions of active users and TikTok's growth remains huge; the profits of the Chinese company have grown by $1bn compared to just two years ago. With an addicted user base reliant on these sites it may be that rumours of the death of social media are greatly exaggerated and maybe just a case of wishful thinking.
<h5 class=" eplus-wrapper" id="question">Could you live without it?</h5>
Yes: Most young people have already moved away from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If these platforms disappeared then very few people would notice the difference anyway and those who did would see an improvement in their mental health.
No: Social media is how people now find out about what is happening in the world. It has democratised the news and allows us to keep in contact with friends and relatives.
Or... Social media has lots of advantages. What is needed is tougher regulation to ensure that it is not misused and does not cause harm.
The age of social media is over says author
