From Bikini-Clad Pig Feeding to Better Health Advice: 3 Ways Social Media Impacts Your World

The excellent bits, the bad bits, and the ugliest bits

Why would you feed pigs while wearing a bikini?

It seems risky.

Perhaps a better question is why did I click on the picture—I don’t need to see three glamorous Australian sisters feeding pigs on a beach.

Sure, the ocean looks exquisite, the sisters have shiny hair, and the pigs are handsome (as far as pigs go.) But I can’t get those seconds back or yank the image from my mind.

Social media can affect everything from our mental map of the world to our stress hormones.

To maximize the benefits and reduce the negative side-effects, we first need to understand how social media impacts our world.

We need to get clear on the good, the bad, and the ugly.

1. The truly excellent bits you can’t miss

You are one of 7 billion sharers and reporters.

One reason we’re so moved by the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine is we’re seeing it through the eyes of Ukrainians.

We’re not solely reliant on a war correspondent’s emotionally measured reports or a politician’s spin. Social media gives us more opportunity to communicate person to person without a middle man.

You’d never meet them on the street

Social media lets us talk to people we’d never meet in the street or our usual social circles.

I’m an admin of a local Facebook community group, and it’s brilliant seeing neighbours connect and find like-minded and like-hearted locals.

It allows us to build relationships across traditional boundaries.

The benefits aren’t limited to a privileged few

In Enlightenment Now, Steven Pinker walks us through the phenomenal positive impact of technological progress and connectivity.

Pinker explains you’ll find smartphones in places without roads, landlines, postal services, newspapers, or banks. And in these places, connectivity means a lot more than cat videos.

It means getting advice on health and farming practices, finding day work, learning about the weather and local markets.

Social media is a positive force because it lets us connect directly and share in a way that we couldn’t before.

2. The bad bits (from pig-feeding influencers to murder)

After staring at the bikini pig photo for a bit too long, I’d had enough of the beautiful people on Instagram and headed over to Facebook.

According to my Facebook feed, we’re all going to die.

The first headline that catches my eye is “Man Charged Over Acid Bath Death.” My rational brain shouts, “Do not click!” Oops. Too late. My rational brain must find its day job proper exhausting.

Social media can steal our time and sense of normal before breakfast.

Staring down the tsunami

Consuming junk is an excellent way to numb out.

I do it passively, without thinking.

I’m in luck too; a side-effect of having 7 billion sharers and reporters is we’re starting down a junk tsunami.

Digital content doesn’t need to be approved, vetted, trustworthy, sound, healthy, popular, polished, tasteful, or stirring. Any content is good to go. When you look at my early work, it’s clear I directly contributed to the junk wave.

Sorry about that.

I want to know what happened

The other issue we face is the sheer volume of bad-things information coming our way.

Consider your social feeds and recent watch lists. There’s an excellent chance you’ll find stories about war, crime, pollution, inequality, injustice, social strife, violence, rape, drugs, and oppression.

And we lap it up. We want to know.

I can’t look away from the Ukrainian crisis. And I read news articles about violent acts because I want to keep my family safe.

I want to know what happened.

Bad things library

When we consume large volumes of bad-things stories, we build up an extensive library of bad things in our minds.

Sometimes it’s important to know about terrible events, but we need to understand the more we soak up, the more it bleeds into our thinking.

3. The ugliest bits and the sewer dwellers

Even the most excellent cities have sewers.

A local police officer said to me, “Facebook is the worst thing ever invented for our society. It’s ruining people.”

I disagree, but I get it.

He’s talking about the ugly bit — the abuse, bitter criticism, psychological harm, and the scamming.

Yelling at the TV

In the 1990s, my Dad would yell at news reporters as he watched them on the TV. People do the same now, but the difference is the person you’re ranting at on Twitter can hear you.

Digital citizens do and say things online they never would in real life.

Creeps get to creep around unseen, jerks find vulnerable targets, and folks who carry pitchforks have never been so busy.

It impacts your body

On top of the psychological fall-out, digital abuse and threats affect us on a physiological level.

Namoi Wolf’s research into the impact of online abuse (particularly sexual threats) shows our brain registers digital threats as legitimate. These threats and abuse trigger a fight or flight response, and we get the same cascade of stress hormones we’d expect from a threat closer to home.

The ugly side of social media causes real-life harm.

How to avoid being toast

Inconveniently, the flip side of free choice is personal responsibility.

When it comes to social media, I need to steer.

I have to; otherwise, I’m toast.

Steering means noticing what we’re consuming and choosing where to go next. It means not flowing from pig-feeding glamazons to acid baths. It involves paying attention to the bad-things information we let in.

Effective defensive maneuvers

We should consider some defensive maneuvers to protect ourselves from perfect smiles, a junk tsunami, and digital sewer dwellers.

Unfollow is a classic. See Less and Mute are more subtle but still effective. Block is a chokehold, and Uninstall the equivalent of In Case of Emergency Break Glass.

Then follow the ones that inspire you, get you thinking and stretch you. You want to immerse yourself in the work of people you make you feel, laugh, and cry (in a good way.)

We also need to choose our platforms and communities carefully; they’re not all made equal.

We’re in charge. Or we can be.

And it’s worth it because the connectivity, knowledge sharing, and opportunities of social media make our world better.

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