Opinion: Social media needs to change

For guest contributor Michael Capps, social media has more disadvantages than advantages.

For guest contributor Michael Capps, social media has more disadvantages than advantages.

Michael Capps, Guest Contributor

Every time someone logs onto Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or any other form of social media, only the best of everyone’s lives are seen, which promotes envy for others’.

If you think about it, how many people post about losing a game, having a fight with a friend, or going through a divorce with their parents? All we read and see is success, promotions, vacations to the beach, and smiling families together. This causes most of us to compare our lives to others, and that’s when social media becomes an issue.

Social media additionally feeds worthless information to us. For example, if you like something on Facebook, then you get a feed of irrelevant and random info and advertisements about the topic. It creates this false reality that everyone has the same likes and dislikes as you, and clutters your feed.

The more time someone spends on Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, the more discontent they are. I don’t think people really understand that when they compare themselves to others, they always come up empty. We all have our flaws and are imperfect, but sometimes social media blinds us from seeing what is good about ourselves.

Social media has its advantages though, such as offering a new way for people to communicate with each other through pictures and comments. It also enables long range communication in the quickest way. These benefits should be the focus of social media, and the worthless feed of information must go.

This isn’t a call to say social media must completely go, but it absolutely must change. All the feeds of unwanted info are completely unnecessary and too much time on social media comparing ourselves to others ultimately leaves us empty. In order for social media to improve, there should be a filter to leave out superfluous information, and people should focus on being happy for the good fortune of others.