Stories of High School 2019 - 2023

Our Social Dilemma

Big tech companies are always one step ahead of us and they also are supporting politicians and will do anything to help them and tech companies are not usually on our side as they listen in on everything we do.

The Mental Health Dilemma: Nowadays, people of all ages experience anxiety and depression along with so much more mental illness because of the world we live in. Social media has become a part of everyone's life nowadays and it goes all the way back to being used in middle schools. For me, I have used social media for a hot second and it has destroyed me. It has made me so anxious and to be honest life would be so much better without it and I wish I could get rid of it but I always end up running to it. Unfortunately nowadays, companies will do anything in their power to get you to stay hooked with your social media because that's how they make their money. So when they are making money they are putting you down and are making you depressed and anxious. So many people nowadays compare themselves to everyone else around them and it is so toxic but I've also done that and it didn't go well and I spent a lot of days worrying about myself and how others see me when that shouldn't matter. My reputation is good enough for me and you should appreciate me for me. People on social media make their lives seem so good and that their on vacation every other day and that they never have a bad day or have to worry about a thing and it can make people think that having a bad day or a worry is a bad thing because to them nobody else goes through it because they never see people having a bad day on social media.

Big tech companies I would put into "social media" because it acts like social media. It can control how you think, change your mind, and even control everything you do. Search results on google should be avoided most of the time because it can trick us into giving up a ton of information and can again change your mind but it mostly targets people who are undecided on something which is every single one of us and that's why google or any big tech company can be so toxic and dangerous. Since google has targeted ads, the best way to get rid of them is by going to privacytips.com and then you can register your phone and then hope everything stops and you no longer have to see the targeted ads.

The democracy Dilemma: The democracy dilemma is all about the government and political things. In 1962, Franklin Delanor Roosevelt warned the american people about something called the Technology Elite which is something that can change and control public policy without a single person knowing which isn't the greatest but thats the world we have always lived in. Google has about 3 million pages for each person about everything you do. So, Google knows that they can change your mind and that they are basically in control of anything and everything but politicians don't do a single thing to change that because they are being benefited by google and are basically making contracts with big tech companies to not do anything and let them control everything which is why our government dosen't do anything. Since the government knows everything why don't they control everything? Dr. Robert Epstein was threatened by the government and told him that he would get into a car accident and later on, his wife was the one to get into a car accident and was tragically killed but not him and I personally think that the government had something to do with this but there's nothing to prove that. In 2016, if Mark Zuckerburg had said something about voting such as a popup, reminder, or something along those lines on Facebook to vote democratic candidate president Hillary Clinton, she would have had more votes and probably could've won BUT he did not say anything and that could've had a huge impact on the election and I bet he feels awful about it but again, i'm not him so I wouldn't know. Things like that are what the government and big tech companies are doing in collaboration with each other. They are always backing each other up and are always going to serve each other and make it so politicians or government officials win whether that's re-election or just the first campaign in the government elections. Whether the case is, the government is always one step ahead in everything we do.

The Way Forward: As long as social media companies profit from outrage, confusion, addiction, and depression, our well-being and democracy will continue to be at risk. The time to change this is now and as parents we can limit our children's screen time and what they are doing online to keep them safe and away from addiction and depression as well as comparing themselves, and their lives to others because they want to be like everyone else. Make the child work for screen time or just simply limiting screen time can have a huge impact. It's not worth it as someone who has experienced addiction and comparison because of what I see on social media it is so awful to our well-being as well as mine and it could have been in control if I would have had those restrictions. As a country we could do things differently as social media goes but that's not up to the government to choose how we live our lives and how we use social media.

As government things go, big tech companies could lay off of algorithms and stuff to make us addicted to things such as google and instead use things to actually help us for the better. Help us become better citizens and help us become better in the things we do because sitting around and using technology to let us compare ourselves, have depression, and confusion isn't the best way to go.

In conclusion, there are better ways to go about big tech companies and monopolies which is basically what those big companies are. Parents can limit screen time, and just what their kids are doing online in general for their well-being and just for everything because social media and google, etc isn't the best for anyone and parents can have a huge impact in the younger generations and how their lives are and it's for the better it's not being your child's shelter which is what some people think. Don't have 100% control and let them live a little bit and that could have a huge impact.