By Aretha Uamai
A lot is beginning to make me wonder whether we should just be stepping into our phone screens each day when we wake up.
Last week, while scrolling through my usual rotation of TikTok and Instagram, I became overwhelmed by the content on both platforms. Right there, I decided to delete both apps. The decision was not as spontaneous as it may seem; in fact, I had been thinking about deleting TikTok in particular for a while. However, in that moment, I had found myself thinking of how the discourse of various online events would seep into my conversations with my siblings at home and friends at college. Just that mere thought felt like a burden before any of the conversations had even begun.
But that was enough to spark the question in my mind as to whether there is a difference between social media and the outside world or our “real lives”, or if the two have become so closely intertwined that when we step outside, we might as well be stepping into the screen we carry in our pockets.
Social media used to feel like an escape from reality. I am using TikTok specifically as it’s a platform that I have used since it first launched, and I have actively felt the shift of content and atmosphere. Circa 2019 – 2022, the content mostly consisted of funny videos, trending dances, and relatable scenarios. Now, for most, it is a constant source of serotonin, entertainment and even information.
Going a bit further back in technology, another large escape from reality was the family computer. I used various online gaming platforms for about two hours, then passed the mouse to one of my siblings, and that was it for the day. Sometimes I was itching to go back, but I would barely have time to think about it as the day went on. Now I just pick up my phone whenever I please again and again and again. As a child, everything involving the computer was left at the computer, most of the time. It was not something that shaped my world views, or that I consistently spoke about with my friends and family. The internet was a temporary source of amusement. It was also artificial. And real life was my real life.
As I mentioned before, I had already been thinking of deleting TikTok. Apart from the general toxicity of the app and my own attempts to tackle a phone addiction, this was mostly due to the fact that I believe in the past year, there has been an influx of thirteen-year-olds and younger on the app that has completely changed the social environment. The age range I have mentioned is a formative one, to say the least. Witnessing interactions and comments from these teenagers makes me highly concerned and frustrated for their futures in regards to critical thinking, media literacy, and emotional awareness. Through the language and behaviour, it’s as if they live their whole lives on TikTok and learn a lot from it. It’s not just teenagers.
This year, it has been reported that over 50% of US adults get their news from social media. Yes, this is only a fraction of the world, and TikTok is also only a fraction of the internet, but looking at it from a personal perspective, I can say that TikTok has become a large source of information for myself and those around me, even on topics that would be deemed of higher importance than others. Topics for which more reliable information may be found in a newspaper.
Humour. It seems so unimportant, but I find little things like sense of humour really help to elaborate on how much social media has seeped into our real world. Don’t worry, I’ve still got a great one. But I do wonder what it would be like without social media. My siblings and I did quote movies and TV shows a lot as kids, but there was an aspect of uniqueness that I cannot even put into words, but I can feel the void. And maybe that’s just the same way our childhood and younger selves have gone, which is okay. What I’m trying to say is how much we [my siblings and I] quote TikToks or reference “sounds” back and forth to each other, how much our humour relies on that, now really makes me wonder and backs up my initial thought as to how much social media is becoming our reality. As to whether we should just be stepping into our phone screens each day when we wake up.