The Big Issues

Social Media Is Efficient But Chaotic, Harmful Yet Useful: Altogether, An Indispensable Mess

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In this episode, in the wake of Facebook's October 4th outage, and amidst the debacle in the US over the company's willingness to better respond to the harms created by its platform, we discuss how social media has long become the norm of communication and how the way we socialize has changed with it. We examine the harms that social media exposes us to - harmful people, harmful content, and harmful feelings and habits on our own part. We ask: How is today's social media redefining today's society, and how can we respond to its harms? 

The host is Kieron Murdoch. The guests are:

  1. Terese Millet-Joseph, a counseling psychologist, originally from the island of Antigua. She has been working in this field for the past 16 years. She is currently a practicing psychotherapist in Central New York, and a doctoral student pursuing a PhD in Human Development & Family Science at Syracuse University.
  2. Robyn Joseph-Nathaniel, a secondary school teacher in Antigua and Barbuda. She is the 4th Form Level Head at Princess Margaret School and an upper school language educator.
  3. Curtis Omar Byron, an Antiguan and Barbudan I.T. and finance professional working in Atlanta, in the United States. He attended the Georgia State University. He is a violinist known by the stage name Wadadli Strings.
  4. Marisha Duncan, a second year PhD student in cultural studies at The University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago whose research focus is on natural black hair and natural black hairstyles, representation and identity format.

    5. More background:

    When it comes to harms, there are quite a few. Social media addition, for example, is a real problem for some people. Checking your apps constantly? Impatiently waiting for replies or reactions to your posts? Agonizing over your content? Glamourizing the ideals of shape and beauty portrayed by influences and models? That sort of absorption with a virtual world can be especially bad for young people and children, who are still building their sense of self, self-worth, personality, and their place in the world. 

    There are other harms too - toxic people creating toxic spaces online for bullying, trolling, and harassment. And then there's predators interacting online, seeking out people to exploit. And then there's the scammers trying to rope you into something or steal your information in someway. And then there's the social media companies themselves and who they allow to access your data. 

    Has a political party paid a shady company to run an influence campaign by accessing the personal data about you held by a company whose app you're using? Suddenly, unbeknownst to you, you are being targeted with tailored content designed to influence your political stances based on information you've placed on a social media profile, and the data the app has gathered about your interests. That's unsettling, isn't it?

    This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on October 10th, 2021. Get the latest news from Antigua and Barbuda at the Antigua Observer online.

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    The Big IssuesBy The Big Issues Production Team