Podcast Rec: Hidden Brain
The latest episode of Hidden Brain “Prisoners of Our Own Making” (a rebroadcast) explores extremes in social interaction from Social Media impacts to the effects of Solitary Confinement (which complements one of my other favorites Podcast Rec: Ear Hustle).
I really like this podcast, but it brought one of my current pet peeves into focus: people thinking social media is inherently “bad”. Social media is a tool which can be used for good or bad – it is the intent of the yielder that determines the outcome. Like a hammer can be used to fix or destroy. Social media amplifies existing human social behaviors.
We have ALWAYS lived in a world where we expose a very curated version of our life to others and we look around and think other people are having fabulous lives because we are seeing this specially curated view. This is NOT a new phenomenon. It’s just an extreme version since we can now see many more people than say, just the handful of neighbors or other invitees to a dinner party. And perhaps because when we lived in closer proximity we had the ability to get other sources of inputs that showed the cracks in the perfect life being presented (gossip or perhaps seeing the person arguing with their spouse at the grocery store.
So it really annoys me when people complain about how they feel pressured to only post positive things on Facebook. Ummm…that exact same social mores exists in the offline world. When an acquaintance says “How are you” it is not considered “polite” to honestly respond “Well, I lost my job and am getting a divorce”. Now, whether or not we want to keep or change that social convention is another discussion, but don’t act like it’s weird/surprising that it’s not something you should post as your Facebook status.
In Hidden Brain’s defense, they do have a brief throwaway line that all of these issues have always existed, but I think the way it was presented re-inforces the pervasive belief that social media itself is inherintly bad. Maybe this was my bias? Give it a listen – because it’s a great show and I’d be very interested to hear if you have a different takeaway: