What Social Media Does For You (by Montrell Wiley)

I want you to imagine your normal everyday life. What is it that you do on a day-to-day basis? Do you go to the gym after heading to class or work? I am sure there is some sort of routine to your day, and I am sure that a part of that routine is checking your phone every now and then (for some it's every couple of seconds). Our phones have become such a huge part of our daily lives. So much so that we don't even realize how much time we actually spend on them each day. Social media is such a distraction to our lives that we can spend a total of 8+ hours on it daily and not even be able to remember the things you saw or experienced, except maybe those "dank memes" that busted your spleen for a minute. With all of that time spent, is it really worth it in the end? What does one really gain from such bombardments of various media content?

As one browses the web, soaking up all of that media content into their brain, there is two arguments that we must settle: is it all worth your time or isn't it? Let's try to look at social media as a positive influence on its viewers. So how can social media be a positive influence? There are a lot of examples of social media campaigns that we can look at, but for now let's look at the #MeToo movement campaign.


This Twitter hashtag carries heavy weight with it, as people who post with this hashtag tell of their stories of being sexually assaulted. It was just after the Women's March in January of 2017, and it spread to millions of users who wanted to share their story to the world, which then spread to an even larger audience. This movement gave those people a voice to be heard and listened to just by using a simple hashtag, and gave others the courage to speak out about their experience as well. Not only that it increased awareness of harassment and made it easier for victims to report harassment in places such as the work space. It also helped bring to justice multiple sex offenders such as Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer.

So this movement has obviously spawned some good into people's lives and society, but what are some of the negative aspects of such a movement? Well to start, the movement has changed how people socially interact with each other, especially in workplace environments. Universally, this may come off as a good thing: less touchy people means less sexual assault cases. Culturally, however it can vary as to what is acceptable and what is not. In an article from USA TODAY, Johnny C. Taylor Jr., president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, said that he grew up in South Florida around Latinos who were expressive and dispensed hugs freely, and also among Southerners who often used terms like “honey,’’ “sweetheart’’ and “sugar’’ with their acquaintances. (Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY) There is no telling what is offensive to some people and what is not, even with genuine interactions such as these. This has made it difficult for men to know how to interact with women at work. Another consequence is the need for additional workplace training that has to take place for employees.

So which consequences outweigh the others? It is hard to tell in situations such as these as to what is right when so many things are effected, although one could start by using some sort of ethical framework such as John Stuart Mill's fight for the greater good, but that's an idea to explore on your own. There are many factors that go into determining what social media practices and trends are beneficial to society and the individual, but maybe you can start figuring that out by reflecting about what social media has done for you.