Meta: the most normalized addiction worlwide

According to an investigation carried out by the OBS Business School, 60% of the world's population has access to social media networks, which are mostly controlled by Meta, a company who operates through Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. I am sure that most of us are frequently using the services of the company, and you could even call us addicts more than users.

I know that the word "addicts" may be strong and very serious, but if we deeply analyze the scenario in which we find ourselves, we will see that social networks have had a giant impact on the world's population, especially on the younger generations.

Meta is currently facing dozens of lawsuits for different problems, and if it was not enough, to this list has been added an accusation by 33 states in the United States due to the manipulative and addictive way in which the company operates, with the purpose of obtaining income and young people being its main target.

As a young woman belonging to one of the most affected groups, I can confirm that on multiple occasions I have felt the need to constantly use social media, they have distracted me in important moments when perhaps I could have used my time in more productive activities such as do homework, spend time with my family, call my grandfather or simply accept that it was time to sleep instead of watching my friends' stories or keep scrolling in order to find the funniest memes.

The list of side effects not only includes low user productivity, but also mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and lack of self-esteem. In addition, it has been confirmed that these platforms are designed in such a way that they influence the secretion of dopamine and this is why users develop addictions, this method is expected to implemented in other projects of the company, such as the Metaverse. And finally, the company is also being sued for violating the privacy of minors by leaking information about its young users for advertising, marketing and sales purposes without parental consent. 

So, based on all this information, we can notice a lack of ethics on Meta's part. Because they make use of illegal and unfavorable practices for the well-being of people, with the sole purpose of generating greater income for the company. If we analyze this case, we can notice that our development as a society is going downhill and, even though we users know this information, we are not able to stop consuming these services. And what is worse, the regulatory bodies have not taken action on the matter even though they are aware of the great damage that these platforms have generated over the years.

The control that Meta has over us is so much that people who buy shares of this company leave aside their morals and values ​​when allocating their money to investments that support Meta's projects and misleading actions. In the end, these people are adopting the same behavior as the directors of this company, generating an income (whether small or large) at the cost of harming others and putting at risk the development of future generations who will undoubtedly find themselves in a much more deceptive, dangerous scenario than the one we currently find ourselves in. 

Awareness must be created among the world's population about the negative impact that social networks have on us, as well as measures to be taken to stop the control that they have on our health, family, personality and coexistence. Otherwise, we will experience radical changes that can completely change the world as we know it and destroy the good things we currently have in the long term.

 

 Sources: 

• https://www.forbes.com.mx/redes-sociales-casi-el-60-de-la-poblacion-mundial-ya-las-usa/
• https://www.ft.com/content/78c46a01-30b2-40e1-a8c9-a920b7d7d5d1