Let's play a game—I’ll give you three words, and you blurt out the first thoughts that pop into your head after reading them. Deal? Ok, let's begin: Twitter. TikTok. YouTube. If you’re like me, the words that pop into your mind might be conflicting. Words like entertaining, comical, and educational seem to describe these platforms equally as well as words like toxic, mind-numbing, and unhealthy. The sites, and the internet as a whole, is a place filled with millions of positive and negative voices. I want to take a moment to focus on how individuals are using their voices to reshape social and change social media platforms. To do this, I’ve contacted several small and large influencers, asking each of them for their insight on social media platforms and how they’re changing.
Social media, at its best, should be a place of authenticity. Influencers who genuinely enjoy posting content generally go further than those who post with little enthusiasm or drive. Alongside this, comments that have more likes and comments generally aren’t dull, matter-or-fact comments, yet instead authentic ones that express genuine emotions, inspire laughter, or that showcase a degree of relatability. Not only do these types of comments positively affect other viewers, but also the contents’ creators who receive interesting and fun feedback on their content. This interaction is part of what makes various social media sites so popular. These sites allow for users to view and interact with friends and creators in an authentic and human manner. However, several factors have led to a reduced amount of authenticity on many social media platforms, a good example of which is YouTube.
YouTube has quickly gone from being a website for people to share fun, homemade videos to an industry where top fulltime YouTubers make, and spend, tens of thousands on videos—oftentimes attempting to gain subscribers in the quickest manner possible. This has left many users’ noticing a decrease in authenticity due to many creators prioritizing growth and trend chasing over creativity and individuality. Regardless of the way in which a creator grows, the fact that there are now so many more users on the platform has led to a disconnect between creators and viewers. When a creator has less subscribers, oftentimes they form a tighter knit community with those who watch their videos. ImpulseSV is a content creator with over a million subscribers who first started posting in 2012. When reached out to and asked about YouTube and its comment section, he responded, “The comment section was almost like a close knit community… Everyone was super nice and very helpful and we got to know each other… and I still have those people I recognized from back in the day, but now… there’s a lot more [criticism] of the things I do. There used to be a lot more praise; ‘Oh this is amazing’, ‘You did a good job’, ‘Keep it up’, ‘I like what you are doing’. But now, it seems like because there are so many more comments it's a lot easier to see a lot more negativity… [coming] through.” ImpulseSV, in saying this, exemplifies how many large channels are now struggling with more negativity and less community. With a select few YouTube channels now gaining more popularity and controlling more of the platform than ever thought possible, this can lead to viewers feeling unable to connect with their creators. This disconnect can lead to a lack of community and therefore a fall in the overall number of meaningful interactions on the platform.
Societal changes along with recents events have also changed the atmosphere on YouTube alongside other social media sites. ImpulseSV puts it best when saying, “the tone has changed a little bit. Mental health these days has definitely taken a hit… I think we see some of that in the comment section. Not everyone is in the best mental health state—and they take it out [on the creators].” As Impulse pointed out, the mental health of many individuals has struggled as of recently. In 2021 “drug overdose deaths reached record levels”; in 2022, suicide rates were back near an alltime high after having been declining for two years, and a study this year showed that 37% of adults rated their mental health as “fair or poor,” which is even higher than last year. While there are several causes leading to this decrease in mental health, ImpulseSV noted the Covid-19 pandemic as one of the worst. “I'd say the pandemic has put more people in not such a spirited mood anymore,” ImpulseSV said, “and so they kind of take it out [in] the comments.”
Whether it be a heightened sense of competition or society’s wavering mental health, many social media platforms seem to have decreased in the amount of authentic interactions they contain over time. This can lead many influencers to feeling burnt out, always trying to either ride the next trend or pump out more content all while fighting against the negativity of other users.
The simplest and most profound way to contribute to a better environment on social media sites is to think of everyone we come across as more than just a faceless entity to be talked at. While it can be easy to become frustrated with all of the wild takes one can see across the internet, respect doesn’t evaporate the second you disagree with someone. Everyone has bad days but taking your frustrations out in a public comment section only perpetuates the negativity. WELN is an influencer with over 2.8 million subscribers whose observations about the nature of comments ties into this topic. When DMed for his opinion, he said, "the language of the internet is hyperbole. ‘This is the best thing I’ve ever seen’, ‘This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen,’ as opposed to something in the middle.” While hyperboles can make for funny, authentic comments, they also cause a multitude of pain. When individuals allow their emotions to get the best of them, they usually aren’t mild with their comments. Instead, they rant about their frustrations, leading to creators or other commenters having to deal with their extreme negativity. We may think that alone we have no power on YouTube, but in reality fellow consumers and creators can be affected more by negative comments than one would think is possible. Sometimes one genuinely positive or unnecessarily negative comment is all it takes to light or extinguish a fellow user’s enthusiasm. So next time you post something, realize that anywhere from hundreds of individuals to one unconfident content creator will likely be positively or negatively affected by your words.
Oftentimes we think of “influencers'' as popular online creators with millions of fans at their command. In reality, influencers are simply those whose actions have a voice that can impact others. While not everyone has a huge platform, everyone has an influence. Every time you post a picture, leave a comment, or retweet an image, you promote an idea, emotion, or mentality. It's up to us all to decide how we will use our influence. Every individual has the potential to guide the direction the platform takes one comment at a time. Being kind isn’t hard, and when we ask ourselves to be mindful of our posts, you’d be surprised at just how much of an influencer you really are.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.