Is Social Media Destroying our Brain?

You're familiar with the scene: Organ music plays in the background, a woman runs for her life in the woods, something dark and sinister chasing her. She runs over rocks and twigs and suddenly- she stumbles! You know in your gut it's over. She looks behind her, terrified, and the shadowy figure emerges as the music crescendos to a high pitch.. Her brains are now the zombie's dinner. 

Surely, what I'm talking about today is not nearly as simplistic as that overplayed trope in films. But, is it equally concerning? 

Of course, ask any AI, (which I did) and the answer is much more understated and layered:

"The claim that social media is destroying our brains is a highly debated topic, and the evidence is not conclusive. While some studies suggest that social media overuse can negatively impact mental health and cognitive abilities, other research suggests that it can provide benefits such as social connectedness and educational opportunities. Additionally, the effects of social media use may vary depending on individual factors and patterns of use. Therefore, it is not accurate to make a blanket statement that social media is universally destroying our brains." 

I'd call that sus.. Wouldn't that be what we would expect AI to say? 

Oversimplification aside, excessive social media usage has negative effects- and we don't even need research to tell us that. How many so called influencers have taken their own life, either on purpose or accidentally as a result of chasing after the wind to stay "relevant"? 

What about the rest of us mere mortals? You don't have to have millions of followers or a deal with Adidas to acknowledge that the hours we spend mindlessly scrolling take a toll. We see it in the form of increased feelings of anxiety, depression, loneliness, a reduced attention span and disrupted sleep patterns. 

So why are we not running away from this zombie that is intent on eating our brain? Because it's softly  lulling us to feel complacent. Heard. Understood. Relatable. 

Instead of using that time to learn or sharpen a skill,  read something educational, or engage with human beings in the flesh, it's much more easy to pick up the phone and just open Instagram. 

Instantly, we're bombarded with a barrage of quick videos with short bits of advice and a thousand images in a short span of time. We see people who look like us, act like us, find the same things funny, disturbing, adorable, scary, etc- and we are somehow comforted by belonging to this collective "persona". At times, I am guilty of the same. We see places we want to see, bodies we want to have, things we have to do, success we could only dream of attaining- but we are doing none of the concrete, physical things to accomplish them. 

Instead, we're just watching and using our potential to like, comment, and share. 

It seems that whatever niche you could possibly dream up -from cottage core Disney princess influencers to gray-haired grandmas using the language of youth, dancing in dresses, and spitting pick-up lines, there's a corner of the internet dedicated to it. Not that it's all bad; I for one will never turn down a good meme, hilarious cat video, or Spanglish humor. 

But... scroll long enough and you'll find videos promoting anything and everything under the sun, making us feel appalled, indignant, ... bewildered? We feel entranced. Enthralled. You'll find yourself forming an undeterred, stoic opinion about things you never even knew existed half a second before scrolling to that reel. 

You'll find people arguing from things as trivial as Shakira's breakup and the "controversial" outfit some celebrity wore to some event, to actual problems of our time, such as war in Ukraine, poverty and hunger. 

But what good does it actually do? 

How does any of it lead to an open discourse where an exchange of ideas can be had? 

What benefit does it bring humanity to believe you need to throw away your entire wardrobe and a buy a new one if you don't want to look "dated"?

When, if ever, has a single comment from a keyboard warrior changed anyone's mind over a topic they already feel they know everything there is to know, and are on the right side? 

Instead, we dig ourselves deeper into the rabbit hole.

Don't let the big slurping sounds wake you. It's just the faceless zombie finishing his meal.