Along with my name and major, one of the bits of information that was constantly requested during the opening weeks of my freshman year was my Instagram account. The issue: Until I had to face this reality at Cornell, I took great pride in being able to say that I didn’t use social media. So, during those opening weeks I smiled and shrugged, yet when all was said and done, I would walk away with no way to follow up with the person I had just talked to. I have since downloaded Instagram and Discord, but contrary to the necessity of social media, I’ve also heard many people lamenting the time they’ve spent on these platforms. Frankly, I find this ridiculous.
Despite being rife with problems, as shown by studies, statistics, popular anecdotes and recent legal challenges brought against social media companies, at its core, social media is a form of communication and one of the most powerful tools at our disposal. Beyond being integral to connecting with friends and student organizations, social media allows us to track our idols, get the news and consume entertainment. Social media suffuses our lives, and as a recent New York Times article elaborates, “[This] doesn’t mean people approve of social media or even like it. They just can’t imagine being without it.” Whether or not you wish you could spend less time doomscrolling, social media is easily digestible, conveniently accessible and incredibly pervasive, placing the world at our fingertips and us out into the world. This is not just something that society gives up, so it’s our responsibility to learn how to work with this unleashed power.
No matter how accessible social media is, like any form of media, it requires a certain level of literacy to be used effectively. The process of exploring these platforms has forced me to reckon with the fact that I have no idea how to even navigate them. As ridiculous as it may sound, in something akin to picking up a book and learning how to turn the pages, I’ve had to figure out how to perform tasks as simple as following, reposting and reacting to messages. Social media has rules and terminology, like the difference between a post and a story, that I’ve scrambled to pick up. With new features (or at least new posts and trends) emerging all the time, any individual setting social media aside risks falling behind which is something that I can’t believe many people, much less ambitious Cornell students, would consider doing.
In addition, because social media facilitates the rapid dispersal of information, it also aids in the propagation of misinformation: a problem that is exacerbated by the influence of celebrity and the advancement of AI and which renders engagement with social media all the more important. As acknowledged by the efforts of California educators, you can’t learn how to navigate and analyze social media, and thus gain literacy, without critical exposure. Engagement builds literacy skills that allow for us to distinguish between what is real and what is just online slop. Just as social media itself evolves, misinformation too mutates into new, more deceptive forms that make the necessary duration of this engagement nearly constant. Whether or not you want to stop using social media, you can’t afford to.
So, stop trying. The solution is not to abandon social media, but instead to approach it with an intent. If the goal is to be social, then chat with friends. If the goal is to be informed, then track the news. If the goal is to be entertained, then treat with the same timeframe that you would commit to any other form of media. Just make sure that every time, you make your intention clear to yourself and work towards following through. But the truth is: You can’t give up social media.
Wyatt Tamamoto is a member of the Class of 2029 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a contributor for the Arts & Culture department and can be reached at wkt22@cornell.edu.
