Paradoxes are so fascinating.
How can A and B be true if they are both “opposites” of each other? It’s a contradiction: a relationship that shouldn’t exist, yet it does. And yet, paradoxes are found everywhere. For instance, take one example that applies in numerous situations: each failure brings you closer to success. This makes sense because failure means you are trying, but on a more macro scale, it seems counterintuitive that this can be true. After all, success and failure are technically opposites.Â
It’s truly a mystery how paradoxes can exist. Despite this mystery, lots of things that seem, at first glance, to be one-sided are susceptible to becoming paradoxes. I think that a good example of this is social media.Â
The original intention of social media was to help us become more connected with each other, share moments of our lives with our close ones, and form communities of people with shared interests. These are some genuine reasons to create social media in the first place. If platforms were created solely to serve these purposes, they would significantly improve social connections.Â
It’s true that social media “overcomes barriers of distance and time and expands our networks and connections.” But this is not as simple as it sounds; you would need to be using it in a very specific, careful way.Â
At times, the harms of social media outweigh its original positive intentions. A recent study revealed how “problematic social media use is connected to depression, anxiety, poorer well-being, and sleep problems.” Another study found that social media “did not promote connection or decrease loneliness.”Â
The fact that social media can both impact and not impact social connectivity is a paradox. While you can attribute its pros and cons to your specific way of using it, the concept of social media in and of itself still remains a paradox. How are we justifying our use of a tool that doesn’t significantly improve connectivity to improve just that? Was there no other alternative that was less “paradoxical?”
Or is everything inherently a paradox because nothing can truly be one-sided?
It’s a confusing situation that underscores our need to be careful about how we use social media, or we risk falling into an abyss of social disconnection.