(source Freepik.com with license)
Social media platforms have become a way of life for most of our society. Friends and work associates are connected through platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn. Friendships and even romances blossom through apps and groups on sites like Facebook and Snapchat. We get ideas and inspiration through Instagram and Pinterest. We learn and find entertainment through TikTok and others.
Social media keeps us connected with each other, with the news, business, and the rest of the world. Individuals with active social media accounts have reached a place of true interconnectedness, but is that always a good thing?
Many have been discussing the negative impact of social media for years. There are well-documented benefits of social media, but there are plenty of reasons why social media is bad, too.
The dangers of social media include financial, social, and mental health risks. Facebook customer service fields endless questions and complaints about identity theft cases and potential fraud. Twitter alerts us to any number of privacy breach issues. Instagram has been linked to emotional distress and even eating disorders.
It begs the question: what is social media’s impact on our lives?
- Identity theft
- Hacked accounts
- Scams and financial woes
- Mental health concerns
- Bans, censorship, and limitations
Identity theft
Twitter has a protocol for impersonation. That should give anyone pause before they praise social media too heartily. If you aren’t on Twitter, anyone else can get on Twitter and pretend to be you or your company. The impersonator has carte blanche to say or do anything as they represent you, and online customer service will take time to sort out the issue while your reputation may continue to suffer.
Other social media platforms like LinkedIn have almost all of your personal information available through your resume and other attached documents. Your phone number, your current and previous places of employment, and even your address may be open and visible to anyone who has made a connection if you’re not careful about what you include in your profile information.
In fact, Soniq, a company associated with the TransUnion credit bureau, recently reported that more than 500 million LinkedIn profiles were found on the dark web with personal information available to identity thieves.
Identity theft is among the most dangerous of social media complaints if enough information is leaked to access your bank accounts, credit, or social security number. Identity thieves can easily open and use credit cards in your name, use your social security number to file for stimulus payments or government benefits, and more.
Protect yourself by changing your password frequently, locking down your accounts to be as private as possible, and removing any personal information that may be included in your account, images, or attached documents.
Even photos from Facebook and Instagram are often used for impersonation reasons. A scammer on a dating profile can easily steal your online pictures to use as their own as they scam others. Consider a reverse image search to be sure you know where your social media pictures are and how they are being used.
Hacked accounts
Hacked accounts can be frustrating but typically aren’t as dangerous as identity theft or financial scams. A hacked account occurs when someone (or something, in the case of a bot) finds your password in a leak or guesses it using common words and patterns and then takes over your account.
Hacked Facebook and Instagram accounts are heavily reported through online reviews and forums. Social media users often turn to other online communities when they can’t find quick answers through the platform, and calling a social media’s customer service doesn’t create the response they are looking for.
It’s not common to find yourself frustrated with Twitter or Facebook customer service calls and responsiveness. On PissedConsumer.com, a platform dedicated to consumer reviews, only 23% of more than 320,000 calls made to Facebook customer care about account issues like hacking were resolved. Instagram customer service issues fare slightly better, with 36% of the 42,500 customer calls resolved.
The best defense against hacking is a good offense. Link your account with your phone and multiple email addresses as security measures. Change your password frequently and use unique passwords not found on other accounts.
If you do find yourself hacked, use your account’s recovery methods to change your password and email preferences, if necessary, back to your own. This will resolve many common hacking problems.
Scams and financial woes
We don’t often think of our money is tied up with our social media accounts, but it absolutely is. Financial scams are prevalent through social media platforms. If you have financial information linked to your social media accounts – perhaps you used your credit card to buy things through Instagram or Facebook ads – you may be even more susceptible.
Financial scams are a common theme on forums and review websites about social media accounts. Users on Reddit are frustrated that they try to report obvious financial scams and have them removed, but Facebook doesn’t remove the offending posts.
The reports from online reviews are backed up by hard numbers. The United States Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, reports that $117 million was lost through social media financial scams in the first six months of 2020. Compared to the $119 million lost over the full twelve months of 2019, there is a reason social media users should be concerned – fraud and financial scams are rising and becoming more commonplace.
If you’re worried you might be susceptible to financial scams, your first step is to unlink any credit cards with your social media accounts. Consider using a mobile wallet like PayPal or Apple Pay that creates a barrier between online shopping and your bank accounts. Approach every message, post, and ad as if it’s a scam.
Do a bit of research by looking for online reviews or searching for a deal through a company’s website rather than through an online ad to ensure you’re working with a reputable company instead of an imposter.
If you do get scammed, calling the social media company won’t likely bring your money back – they have no financial control over other users, but leaving reviews online might help others avoid the same fate. In some cases, your bank or credit card company may be able to help you retrieve some of your funds.
Mental health and safety
There have been well-documented issues with mental health and safety concerns stemming from social media platforms. Spending time on social media releases a dopamine response similar to that released from slot machines or cocaine. Social media can be addictive, and the companies creating it are targeting that exact response, according to a research-driven article released from Harvard.
Even if you aren’t in the significant portion of American society addicted to social media, it may still be impacting your mental health. There are posts and accounts specifically targeting those who have eating disorders and mental health concerns stemming from Instagram comparisons. Eating disorder recovery centers are aware of the issues, and even Instagram has a help page for those with eating disorders linked to their own platform.
Social media may be linked to upticks in violent behavior and threats as well, which can cause significant mental health and safety concerns. With a rash of shooting threats across TikTok issued as a result of a “TikTok” challenge in December, schools across the country responded with investigations, increased security presence, and many parents simply decided to keep their students home that day.
Addiction, anxiety, stress, and fear can be extremely unhealthy. Mental health concerns that stem from using social media should be addressed by mental health experts, but taking a break from social media or stopping altogether as a form of detox is often a first step advised for those suffering.
Bans, censorship, and limitations
Social media complaints have become a new category in recent years. As political and social divisiveness increased in the last years, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have created stricter rules about what is appropriate on their platform and what is not. Since these are private companies, they have control over what is censored, what is “fact-checked,” and who is banned for a time or permanently on the site.
Many individuals and companies use social media as a basis for marketing, which means bans and limitations can have a financial impact and a social one. Many also feel social media danger can stem from censorship online.
Quora threads argue about censorship on Twitter and if free speech is allowed on Facebook. An entire Reddit forum is dedicated to Facebook bans and limitations called “Facebook Jail” after the pop-culture term associated with short-term bans on the platform.
While some Reddit users find the humor in being banned on Facebook, others are frustrated that the bans are not equally applicable and can result from one user targeting another. While perhaps not a tremendous danger for most social media users, being unexpectedly banned from a social media platform where you market or otherwise conduct business can be damaging.
The best way to prevent issues with bans or limitations is to be sure you read the rules of conduct for each of the platforms you’re using. Be sure you’re following the code of conduct for the site, especially if there is a specific set of requirements for the marketplace or advertisements and promotions.
If you do find yourself with a ban unexpectedly, you might try contacting the social media network’s customer service but based on online reviews, complaints, and message threads in forums, you may wind up being even more frustrated by a lack of response or lack of action if you are able to make contact.
Social media can be fun, but it can also be dangerous. Ultimately it is up to you to protect yourself online by making accounts private, researching and reading reviews about ads, posts, or messages that involve personal information or finances, and monitoring your own actions and reactions to the platform to be sure you’re interacting with Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram in healthy ways.
