This piece is an Opinion Editorial based on how social media has taken over. Specifically on how it has effected major world events, cultures, etc.

TRENDING: The Effects of Social Media on Major Issues
“Social media is addictive precisely because it gives us something which the real world lacks: it gives us immediacy, direction, and value as an individual.” – David Amerland. In recent years, social media has taken over the world. Sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc have gained an immense amount of popularity. Almost everyone, no matter the age, has interacted with at least one form of social media. And this is good, right? A new, fast way to get information, connect with people, see a funny cat picture right next to a video of a woman getting shot- oh sorry, I forgot I’m not supposed to talk about that. I’m only meant to repost it on my story so my followers will know I care, my bad. It is crazy how social media can take major topics across the world and turn them into trends. Think things like the War on Yemen, the Black Lives Matter movement, etc. Not only social issues but also turning things like different cultures, sexualities, religions, into trends. Cultural appropriation and stereotyping has always been a mega affair, but it is even more heightened, thanks to social media.

 Now don’t get me wrong, I use many different platforms of social media every single day, but the things it does to major world issues is insane. Of course, I am guilty of exploiting social media, but watching the extremes other people went to regarding their ‘social media presence’ was fascinating. Take something like the presidential election of 2020. Donald Trump verses Joe Biden after an already heated year in politics. You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing about it. Personally I was 17 at the time, but many of my friends and peers were 18, meaning they could vote. I watched these people form their opinions on the candidates strictly on information they got on instagram, from whatever infographic matched their feed. Or their ‘research’ consisted of a Twitter search. They were voting for a President of the United States based on what they saw that morning on Snapchat. And for all the boomers reading this thinking “That’s why the voting age needs to be raised!”, you all do the same thing, just with different outlets. Information from Facebook or even the 5 o’clock news, all of these sources are guilty of misinformation, and turning these big topics into a trend they can make money off of. There are very few people who actually do real research on their pick. Most people are just getting bites of information from whatever biased source they follow and going off of that, and it’s hard to handle. 

Continuing on the topic of the 2020 election, not only was social media being flooded with information and opinions from every company, news outlet, and celebrity, it was taken over by every single person with an account. If you weren’t posting your opinions, it was almost like you were in the wrong. Yes, it is nice to know what your peers are thinking and who to look out for but once again, most of these peoples opinions have been formed from unreliable sources. Honestly most people couldn’t care less, but they are only posting to stay on the current trend, in this case the 2020 election. In his latest special, popular media influencer, Bo Burnham, said 

“Here’s a question for you guys. Um… Is it… is it necessary? Is it necessary that every single person on this planet um, expresses every single opinion that they have on every single thing that occurs all at the same time? Is that… is that necessary? Um… Or to ask in a slightly different way, um, can… can anyone shut the f**k up?” (Inside)

Now by no terms do I love everything Bo Burnham has done, but this section of his special really caught my attention. I’ve always thought that every single person posting their opinion on every single thing was very unnecessary and more importantly, super overwhelming to intake. Reading all of these different takes and sides on the same issue can be a lot to handle. The internal monologue we all have saying “Do I side with my friends? Or my favorite celebrity? Or form my own opinion- no too hard.” Another quote from Burnham’s special regarding social media entails, 

“The question I ask the brands I work with is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is… “Are you gonna be on the right side of history?” The question isn’t, “What are you selling?” Or… or “What service are you providing?” The question is, “What do you stand for?” Who are you, Bagel Bites? The question is no longer, “Do you want to buy Wheat Thins?” For example, The question is now, “Will you support Wheat Thins in the fight against Lyme disease?” (Inside)

Once again, I feel as if it is completely unnecessary for every brand to have this so-called political stance, even if the brand is a food and has nothing to do with politics. But social media is such a big part of every single brand nowadays, and taking a stance on major world issues, no matter who you are, is such a big part of social media, so it all falls down the unfortunate ladder and becomes ‘necessary’. 

Putting aside the turning of world issues into trends, I’d also like to talk about how social media turns culture into trends. Specifically the app Tiktok. My biggest example of this is the war between Straight Tiktok verses Gay Tiktok. Around a year ago Tiktok started getting divided into these two sections, and depending what type of content comes across your For You Page determines your side. Now you may be thinking “Okay, well what’s bad about that? If you mainly see straight people then you’re on Straight Tiktok and if you mainly see LGBT people you’re on Gay Tiktok, so what?” This would be incorrect. The sexual identity of the creator does not completly determine what side of Tiktok they are on. In the article “WHAT IS ‘STRAIGHT’ AND ‘GAY’ TIKTOK? USERS EXPRESS THEIR SEXUALITY ONLINE!” (excellent title to add to my main point by the way), Bain writes ‘Straight’ TikTok is a term often used by the ‘Gay’ TikTokers to humorously mock a certain TikTok stereotype, usually a white American teenager who makes typical dance and lip-sync videos. However, ‘Gay’ TikTok does often claim that ‘Straight’ TikTok does little to include and celebrate LGBTQ+ issues” (Page 1) Basically Straight Tiktok is used kind of as a way to make fun of ‘basic’ people and any boring, basic content. So that means Gay Tiktok is good right? Hooray! Gay is finally being used as a good term! Wrong. Even though gay is being used in a good light from some people, it is still not being used to its actual meaning, because not everything on Gay Tiktok is LGBT, a lot of it is just ‘cool’ or ‘alt’. And most of the time the tables get turned and the people on Straight Tiktok use the term ‘Gay Tiktok’ as degragatory so once again, the word gay is used negatively. So we once again see social media taking something like sexuality, and making it the new biggest trend. This goes even further now with classifying clothes or musicians as ‘gay’, even if they are not, and if you wear those clothes or listen to that music you are automatically gay, even if you are not. I asked one of my best friends, Tom Hessler, his stance on this. Tom is a gay man and heavily involved in the LGBTQ+ community. In response to the question “How has the exploitation of the word ‘gay’ and gay culture as a whole affected you?” Tom replied “As a gay person who has been made fun of and used for their sexuality, it hurts to see the word gay yet again be used incorrectly. Gay is not one style of content, one look, one anything, it is an expansive mulititude and should be celebrated accurately. People want to put things in a box and label it ‘gay’ but that is the exact oppsoite of the idea.”. I fully agree with Tom’s words. Along with appropriating gay culture, the amount of cultural race appropriation that gets normalized on Tiktok is disgusting. Pieces of African and Asian culture are constantly taken, but that’s for a whole other time. 

Closing out, I think we can all see the effects of social media very clearly. It takes major world events and issues and turns them into the latest trend. Then this causes everyone to post about the new ‘trend’ and share their opinion on it, even if it is not needed. And most of the time it’s not even something relevant to that person, but you have to stay up with the trends! But alas I, and most people, have fallen victim and are guilty of this. For better or for worse, social media has taken over the world and there is no sign of it slowing down anytime soon.