Can new
platforms help prevent the harm of social media without giving up? At this
time, this is an important question, the answer to which is simple and easy in
the opinion of experts. Quitting or cutting back on social media can be a great
New Year's resolution. Studies show that doing so benefits mental and physical
health. Many people have taken a permanent and temporary break from the
Internet, which has seen their productivity, concentration and happiness
increase, but this so-called digital detox is not such an easy task. Many of us
use social media because it's an easy way to stay connected with friends and
family while being a part of news and online discussions. The problem is that
the algorithms of all the major platforms, which are meant to maximize the time
users spend on these apps, can trap them in a vortex of commercial and
entertainment images and videos. Dr. Elsplain Koopers from the Netherlands has
come up with a solution to this problem by starting to use a non-commercial and
less popular app, which he says has led to a calmer and more pleasant
experience for me. Coopersby uses the Real app. In this app, users can post a
single snapshot of their life every day. The app issues a notification at any
time of the day and its users are then given just two minutes to snap and post
their picture. According to Cooper, no human can artificially create a
happy-looking picture in two minutes. According to him, on this app you can't
even use filter, so you can only post what you are doing at that moment. The
app called Be Real gained popularity in the summer of 2022. It has been ranked
among the top 10 most downloaded apps this year. This means that a different
and less stressful social media app is growing in popularity among people. For
most platforms like Tik Tok YouTube or Facebook, the problem is their algorithm
or their business model. The time a typical user spends on social media apps is
sold to social media or advertising companies. This data is analyzed to improve
the apps and sometimes this data is sold to third parties. This business model
underlies the problems associated with social media, such as the effects on
mental health, user retention, data privacy issues, and the spread of
misinformation. Apps are trying to create a decentralized culture to deal with
this problem. Its purpose is to give the user control over the content
published, rather than an algorithm. Mastodon is one of those apps. Instead of
one central server, several interconnected servers manage user accounts. Each
of these servers has its own rules and regulations, this new structure, known
as a federated system, connects users of one server with users of other
servers. Compared to platforms like Twitter, communities on Mastodon have the
freedom to create their own rules. After Elon Musk bought Twitter, the Mastodon
app grabbed the headlines because it was the app that users joined after
leaving Twitter. Some experts have expressed doubts about this. According to
him, the decentralized policy of these new platforms can make the process of
monitoring content and deleting inappropriate or harmful posts difficult.