VINT-The-Dark-Side-of-Social-Media-Alarm-Bells-Analysis-and-the-Way-Out

3 Two kinds of Social Media Deficits
Ever since our book Me the Media, published in 2008, we
have been looking at this theme from a structural point
of view. To start with, we can conclude that, by their very
nature, “social media” have many dark sides. What else
can you expect: “social” and “media” rolled into one. We
distinguish two major complementary areas: the domain
of man and the domain of business. Here lie the main
origins of our anxiety: in culture and in economy. We have
ranged the perceived and measured negative consequences
of social media for organizations and individuals in our
Social Media Deficits chart. To be perfectly clear: we are
not concerned about deficits (failings) in the application of
social media, but rather about shortcomings, “mutilations”,
that are due to or are stimulated by social media. They are
twofold:
• Cultural, social-psychological and cognitive: forms of
“Attention Deficit (Disorder)”
• Business and macro-economic: forms of “Financial
Deficit”.
Obviously, the two are closely related. Instead of the usual
term Attention Economy, we increasingly see the concept
of Attention Deficit Economy popping up, from which
communication and culture cannot be dissociated. In this
context, an instinctive addiction to social media causes a
lazy kind of Attention Economy, a superficial Experience
Economy, and the failure of the Knowledge Economy.
As a rule, the positive effects of social media receive plenty
of attention, particularly from marketers and adherents of
the so-called Cognitive Surplus that the Internet stirs up
in mankind. All the wonderful things we can do with it …
Absolutely true, but do not forget the caricatural and dark
sides that go hand in hand with it and often have the upper
hand.
Of course, on the basis of our competitive spirit, caricature
and disruption have always dominated in the media. There
are plenty of examples, like Bambi and Breivik, the Gremlins
and Goebbels. The media are the megaphone of our
intellect, and that is primarily used instinctively, as a rule.
This is the reason why, for many years, those things that we
would rather keep silent about en plein publique have been
high in the hit charts. As they are not chic or because we
prefer to bury our heads in the sand. Caricatural and dark
sides — and that is putting it in very civilized terms. They
are currently prevalent in our social media in particular:
not only in terms of themes, but also in terms of effect.
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two kinds of Social Media Deficits 9