Mitch Adams reporter
Media is so accessible in today’s world that about anybody on the internet can sign up for a social account. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and X have taken over the past two decades and it is extremely hard to find someone who is disconnected from it.
I can remember being incredibly young and using the Internet, watching the evolution of different social media platforms. What had started out as a place where people could communicate freely, share art, and discuss topics has recently turned into a place where people are constantly belittled and hated.
Social media is a place where people are constantly in comparison to others. It seems like when these platforms came out, they were used as a communication vessel. Now they seem like a constant popularity contest. People will do anything for a click and social media enables people to always crave that sense of being popular, gaining attention or even notoriety.
One of the main reasons that social media enables hate is because how easily you’re able to get away with saying anything over the internet. While I agree with free speech, bullying, blatant hate speech or taking advantage of someone should not be tolerated, or else social media becomes a cesspool of individuals whose only intention is to spread hate upon others. The number of tragic events that have happened solely because of reasons involving social platforms or the internet baffles me.
While I cannot say that the entire internet is a bad place, I do think that people rely too much on other’s opinion of themselves. Everyone only posts the HIGHLIGHTS of their life. That leads back to the popularity of the game that I previously mentioned, where everyone feels as if they must top their last post with something more exciting.
Detachment from reality is a huge part of why hate has spread so easily in recent times. Internet users sometimes do not realize the actual real-world impact of the activities they participate in online, which leads to an unrealistic view of how they treat others or portray themselves. In turn, social disconnect and isolation become a real issue and the more someone feeds themselves social media content, it only gets worse and worse.
The best way to go about dealing with hate online is to completely block it out and keep the understanding that someone is only showing this behavior because they have a screen placed between you and them. Being chronically online cultivates jealous and hateful behavior and it seems as if the internet continues to advance that the problem is only going to progress. I wish our world would be viewed by themselves without instantly seeing their Instagram profile and seeing the genuine attributes that people enjoy outside of the social media realm.