Does social media encourage or discourage humans to do better?

Hetal (discourage)

Social media websites (SMW) have the detrimental effect of making viewers feel like everyone on their friend list is living a comparatively much happier life. Research suggests a positive association between SMW and rates of anxiety, FOMO, and also reduced self-esteem.1  A causal link has also been found between SMW and feelings of depression and loneliness.2

Most people curate posts that present the best versions of their lives. Picture filters that increase vibrancy and post about achievement and vacations dominate newsfeeds. This, understandably, creates the illusion of 24/7 success.3  This would be fine if the human psyche wasn't so complex. We as humans, inherently compare ourselves to others. SMW makes users wonder why they aren’t as good looking as friend X, have the finances to travel often to exotic locations like friend Y, or why they don’t have as many “likes”,“retweets”, or “followers” as friend Z. The constant bombardment of perfection only serves to discourage people in aspects of their lives that are posted about. 

The simple truth is that, actually, no single person's life is exactly how they portray it on SMW. For example, couples post about their weddings, but not about the stress involved in the planning. Parents post about the joy of having a newborn, but fail to mention the sleepless nights. What is posted is merely the tip of the iceberg, yet causes titanic damage to user mental health and self-esteem. SMW may be commonplace now, but perfection is not, despite what social media depicts.

Emma (Encourage)

Social media has produced a new age where idea exchange can happen faster and farther while promoting global conversation and providing networking opportunities that could never happen without its existence. For example, traditional communication methods require scientists to communicate their ideas to peers through journal publications and academic conferences, or through what the media chooses to report on. SMW are an effective outlet for these people to disperse their work to a wide variety of people both in and outside of the academic world. This makes knowledge more accessible to the everyday person and allows for scientists to communicate with each other faster and forge connections that would never have happened otherwise.

It is without a doubt that social media, like any technology, can be used misused and have unintended negative side effects, but social media has taken our ability to connect with our fellow people to a new high whose positive effects on our community have far outweighed the negative. SMW have created conditions for all voices to have a platform, without relying on traditional paths—wealth, career, family background, et cetera—to create the volume of a person’s voice. Among many things, this allows for oppressed or marginalized people to connect with one another and organize against injustice, as well as creates a global cultural exchange, where people of all kinds can form bonds, work through problems with the collective intelligence that diverse perspectives bring, and broaden their horizons with ideas that they would never otherwise encounter.