Of Rotten Apples and Men: Pt.2!

In the last blog, I spoke at length about apples.

 

Perhaps I am an average apple enjoyer. Perhaps not.

 

Or I am just concerned about social media’s detriments to a semi-functioning state. This release will analyze social media’s shortcomings, what it could mean for the 4.6 billion people who use social media across the world, and what is being done to mitigate these shortcomings and promote sustainable use of Social Media.

 

“Trolling” can go both ways; sometimes, it can be seen to be provocative in a funny way, that is, to elicit responses which will be some form of banter as well. A perfect example is Elon Musk; as it is true, he occasionally calls himself a troll. And it could also be a fancy way of saying “cyberbullying,” and there are people who dedicate their time and resources to being devoted “haters” on the internet. What this means is that you could spend a day surfing the net, minding your business, liking cat pictures, and then a “user04745296!” from Ikorodu comes to your direct messages (or DMs, as they are fondly called) to tell you that cats are ugly, demonic, and should have paused at a very long time ago in their evolutionary development. 

Pause. You wonder how you can prevent this from happening, as you’ve experienced similar on Instagram, Whatsapp, and Twitter, and you’re considering binning your devices and going Amish.

Well. Look no further. Social Media executives have long been searching for ways to promote responsible media use and consumption in the various media outlets. For example, Youtube announced in late November 2021 that they would be removing the dislike button on the service. The CEO explained that this was to combat herd mentality in hating on the platform, and a few people (myself included) think it was a good move. What do you think? In addition, Twitter and Instagram have the “restrict comments” function to prevent hate speech and protect individual users from targeted harassment. There is also the option of going private on Twitter, where externals are not able to engage you or your social bubble unless given access.

 

To round up, these are amazing innovations to be very honest. But what happens when newer vices are invented? Do we keep censoring users? Do we eventually reach a point where free speech is stifled? Perhaps this will be the topic for the next post.

 

Stay tuned, and have a great week ahead.