It Isn’t All Doom Scrolling

I have been reading about social media and the harmful effects it has on people, and these facts are undeniable. People do doom scroll, abuse the platforms, and use them to harass, bully, spew racist garbage, and spread disinformation. A recent lawsuit has even shown these platforms have been engineered to create addiction. Those reasons should all give us pause and caution about how we use them.

The other side is that it isn’t all doom scrolling. I use Instagram to discover new coffee shops, restaurants, recipes for potlucks, and instructional videos — and I’ve even discovered albums by artists I enjoy. For example, I found two Miles Davis albums I hadn’t listened to, and they have been in heavy rotation. The recipes for my lunch this week came from Instagram, as did the meatballs I took to a potluck and the sausage recipe I used for the Super Bowl party.

There are generous people on these platforms trying to make them better, as well as those who are making it worse.

In the end, we can choose. We can choose what we see, when we see it, and how we make it.

Don’t be deceived into thinking your choices and options are not your own.