We pick up a 6.7-inch display, tap on an icon that’s only a fraction of that display and enter into a space that feels contained. It feels contained, but it isn’t contained.
Instantly: we’re connected to millions of people. Connected to millions of things. Connected to millions of places. We begin existing in a world that’s bigger, broader, and more interconnected than we ever thought possible.
So, we scroll.
We scroll more.
We keep scrolling.
The scroll has no closure. Reaching the "end" only leads to a refresh with more. No matter how long we scroll, we're perpetually falling behind. This leads to fear of missing out.
So, we pick up the phone. We unlock. We check.
Then, we scroll.
We scroll more.
We keep scrolling.
We become passive consumers of problems we can't solve; passive observers of people we can’t connect to.
The social media of today is synonymous with the attention economy: with the feed.
The feed exposes us to a world that’s bigger than we can understand and bigger than we can control. It’s at the expense of our well-being. Witnessing global tragedies, political disputes, and personal hardships unfolding in real-time can be overwhelming. Our feeds bring all this into sight, but they don’t give us the tools to cope with it. They connect us to everything, but they don’t connect us to the people who help us cope with how overwhelmed we feel in the face of everything.
There is value in awareness. There is value in expanding your worldview, your relationships, and your perspective. But the expansion can’t be constant. When it is: we start to feel anxious, helpless, and burnt out.
Technology is a tool. It isn’t good or bad. It’s what we, as humans, choose to build with technology that determines that.
In the face of a loneliness epidemic, we’re living in a world that needs social connection more than ever before. But we’re not living in a world that needs social media.
We can choose to build social media. We can stand on the shoulders of giants like Facebook and Instagram and build more feeds. But we can also turn to different mechanics, and different structures, and be truly human-centric. We can also choose to build social apps. We can choose to re-orient ourselves from feeds and from an economy of attention and constant consumption.
We can choose to put people back at the centre, instead of media. We can build social apps, instead of social media.
Social apps can transcend the limitations of social media by fostering genuine connections, sparking in-depth interactions, and empowering users to create shared experiences. Instead of prioritizing the constant and passive consumption of content, social apps can prioritize human connection. They allow us to build meaningful relationships, engage in purposeful dialogues, and create positive change, together.
We can be social. Without the media.
We can be connected. Without the feed.
With gratitude,
UpBeing
