Jordayn Murphy

Experiencing everything going on with social media right now has honestly been really interesting to think about. This topic really made me look at how much power platforms like Facebook and Instagram actually have in our everyday lives. With all the changes happening, it made me realize how much control these companies actually have over what we see/ interact with online. 

One of the biggest things I took away from this is how social media is supposed to act like a “public square”. This was discussed in the Supreme Court case Packingham v. North Carolina. This idea basically suggests that these platforms are where we go to share opinions and stay informed, which I do think is good in ways. Everything is so accessible which allows us to easily connect with others, spread information quickly, and build communities. I use Instagram all the time, and it’s one of the main ways I stay connected and updated on what’s going on. I love seeing updates from my friend’s life’s! A big one recently has been engagement announcements! Since I’m 23, I guess all the people my age are getting married haha; so, I do believe it is beneficial to have such easy access to connect.

However, at the same time the centralization around social media is also kind of the problem. When everything is controlled by a small group of people or person, for example Mark Zuckerberg (who literally owns meta,) it basically gives control to one person to decide the “rules” of the public square. This part doesn’t really sit right with me because we didn’t just wake up and vote for this person to have a decision over everything. The Free Speech Project talks about this in “The New Public Square?” and shows how there are actual court cases happening right now about whether the government should step in or if companies can just do whatever they want. 

Another thing that stood out to me is the idea of whether we should even trust these platforms in the first place. We are basically putting all of our trust into billionaires or corporations that we don’t know much about. If I’m being realistic, I feel like their main goal is to typically make a profit, and I feel like it is a lot less focused on if people are actually getting truthful information. This alone just makes me question a lot of what I see because I know it’s kind of just an algorithm deciding what I might be interested in. This is why I honestly think looking into more decentralized platforms could be a good thing. You could be able to control your own content; I just don’t think a lot of people know about these platforms so I don’t see them becoming popular anytime soon. 

When I think about if the government should get involved, I think it has both pros and cons. There just needs to be a good balance because I don’t think the government should be able to control what we say but need more rules that forces these platforms to be more transparent. I think the government having more regulations for big corporations allows for us to stay more involved and aware of what’s going on. It would give us more power but not completely take away control from companies.

All in all, this has definitely just made me more aware of how I use social media. I would be lying if I said I didn’t use big apps like Instagram and TikTok every day, but I do definitely think more about the things I see. I feel like at this point in my life, I question things a lot more than just assuming everything is true, which is a good thing because with technology nowadays we need to be critically thinking about the things online! We need a balance, more regulation/ transparency while keeping our rights of free speech.