In May of 2019, Madison Beer released the song “Dear Society”. The song touches on the negative effects of social media, and the sometimes-toxic nature that social media promotes. I fell in love with the song when I first heard it, and recently, I’ve had it on repeat in my favorite playlist on Spotify. Listening to it often has allowed me to dive deeper into the meaning of every verse of this song, and I think it’s important to talk about the issues that the song presents.
The first verse of the song starts off by talking about “sleepless nights” and a “daily dose of internet” – something that, in my opinion, all of society can relate to. We are constantly on our phones, and screen time before bed has been scientifically proven to reduce sleep. As a society, we are on our phones so much that spending a day without our phones is, quite literally, impossible. Social media is a big contributor to this phenomenon.
In the chorus of the song, Madison Beer sings “I can’t control myself; I’m addicted to the hell. My heart is getting sick from the tar that’s on your lips, yeah you’re bad for my health.” The “hell” that is referred to in these lines is social media, and at this moment in time, social media can be used for both good and bad. As much as I don’t like to admit this, I spend too much time scrolling through Instagram looking at people whose lives are seemingly perfect. It’s so easy to compare yourself to all those people, and look at their “perfect” lives, but you never know what someone’s going through on the inside. Yes, they could be truly happy and be reflecting their true self on social media, but often, this is not true. No one’s life is perfect. We all have ups and downs; people choose to show only the ups and hide most of the downs.
In the second verse of the song, Madison Beer sings “Man, sometimes I just wanna scream and break my screen.” This is one of the most relatable lines of the song. There are days that I want nothing more than to be free from my phone and just appreciate the world around me, but somehow, I go back to aimlessly scrolling through Instagram on my phone. I’m not sure if it’s the constant stream of entertainment, or if it’s just pure boredom, but scrolling endlessly through social media is so common nowadays. I’ll be hanging out with friends, and after some time, everyone goes back to their phones; we end up sending memes to each other instead of making actual conversation.
Social media can be positive, but there’s always this underlying competition: who looks prettier, happier, more confident, just more. This competition only promotes negativity and comparing yourself to others, which is not what social media should be about. Social media should be about positivity and lifting people up, not putting them down. As a society, we need to think about our social media consumption and how we can use social media less, but effectively. Scrolling through Instagram with no aim, liking every picture, and looking at people who look “perfect” isn’t going to get us anywhere. No one is perfect; perfect doesn’t exist. Social media should be a tool for promoting positivity and compassion towards others. “Dear Society” did a good job of bringing this issue to light, and people are starting to talk about it more, but the real change is up to us.