POSITIVITY & PRODUCTIVITY
To Facebook (and Instagram) or Not?
“Today I will re-examine the tools & products I’m using and ask, is it a net good or bad?” — Johnny T. Nguyen
Facebook, which owns Instagram, “knows that Instagram poses serious dangers to mental health in teenage girls. An internal research slide from 2019 acknowledged that “We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls” — a shocking admission for a company charging ahead with plans to expand to even younger and more vulnerable age groups.”
Not scary enough? How about:
“Of research participants who experienced suicidal thoughts, 13% of British teens and 6% of American teens directly linked their interest in killing themselves to Instagram.”
What does Facebook have to do with productivity and positivity?! For a couple years now I’ve felt the disturbance (in the force). Perhaps starting from Cambridge Analytica, their lax privacy protection, and even their petty campaign against Apple, who enables more privacy control in app sharing data. With the flood of disturbing leaks about Facebook, I wanted to rethink my relationship with it.
I’m an entrepreneur in a field that depends on the successful distribution of my content to the target audience. Social media is an enabling tool to help spread that message. If my purpose is to create a community focused on productivity and positivity, I need to utilize the tools of the trade, don’t I?
Then again… who cares. Not in the “apathy-sort-of-way,” but rather “the-ends-do-not-justify-the-means.” If using said tools gets me to my goal of a vibrant productivity and positivity community, what does it mean that I got there using known harmful techniques?
My personal TAKEAWAY is that in order to be a leader in the field of productivity & positivity, it has to be done in a thoughtful way that’s aligned with my values. In this case, either stop using the tools as-is (Facebook), or use it in a way that produces the outcome I do want (Instagram). Your thoughts?
References
- Facebook ends facial recognition over privacy fears By AFP
- Facebook crisis grows as new whistleblower and leaked documents emerge By Kari Paul and Dani Anguiano
- Facebook knows Instagram harms teens. Now, its plan to open the app to kids looks worse than ever By Taylor Hatmaker
