Even though Mark Zuckerberg uses social media extensively throughout the day, he doesn’t just aimlessly scroll through Instagram Reels.
That is so because in Zuckerberg’s opinion, communication is the finest use of social media. The CEO of Meta said he believes social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter may be good for users’ wellbeing, but mostly when they’re used to connect with people, on a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
The tech billionaire stated, “If you’re just sitting there and consuming stuff, I mean, it’s not inherently terrible, but it generally isn’t connected with all the wonderful benefits you get from being actively engaged or developing relationships.”
Not just Zuckerberg discourages this kind of excessive social media use. According to research, some users of social media may experience despair and anxiety as a result of their excessive use. However, according to experts, this is only true if users are merely utilizing platforms to scroll and not communicate with one another.
According to a 2019 study by Harvard University researchers, “routine social media use,” such as “responding to content people publish,” is actually linked to good social well-being and general mental health.
READ ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg thinks ‘normal people’ won’t want Neuralink chips in their brains anytime soon
The converse, however, occurs when people become overly dependent on social media or form unhealthy emotional ties.
According to Mesfin Awoke Bekalu, one of the study’s authors, constant app checking can be bad for people’s health if they do it out of a sense of loneliness or a desire to avoid disappointment or feeling separated from friends when not using social media.
Because of this, according to Zuckerberg, his objective for Facebook and the upcoming metaverse is not to encourage users to spend more time online. Instead, the goal is to make everyone’s online experience more interesting and interactive.
I don’t necessarily want people using computers more often, he remarked. “I just want people to spend more time with screens in a better way.”
Zuckerberg has, of course, received a lot of criticism on this specific issue, with detractors contending that Facebook and Instagram are “addictive” and unhealthy, particularly for teenagers and young children. The platforms have launched features that track how much time users spend using social media apps and ask them to mute messages or even log off after a predetermined length of time in an effort to refute those arguments.
READ ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg’s nickname at Facebook is the ‘Eye of Sauron’ but founder insists it is ‘loving’
The creation of a completely immersive metaverse will take time, but according to Zuckerberg, Meta has already made changes to its programming to try and encourage optimism in virtual environments. The code will still display the postings with the highest levels of interaction, but it disregards hostile comments as engagement.
According to Zuckerberg, “we actually don’t even count that in terms of whether to show that to someone else if someone kind of produces an angry reaction.” We simply don’t want to fuel resentment,
