Do you spend a lot of time on Facebook or Twitter? This is how we can get addicted to social media

Writing / La Voz de Michoacán

Morelia, Michoacán. Social networks can be a great tool to keep in touch with our family and friends, to entertain and inform us. But they can also be a huge waste of time. Many wonder why they don’t have the willpower to just leave them for at least a few days or hours, and the answer is simple: the notifications, the layout, and the overall experience are meant to get users to invest their time and share. your information.

On average, each day, users spend two hours and 24 minutes on social media. According to a study by the analysis firm Statista, when it comes to social networks in times of quarantine, Latin America is the region with the most active Internet users on a global scale and the more time they invest, the more difficult it will be for them to leave them.

What happens is that, as Manuel Armayones Ruiz, professor in the Studies of Psychology and Education Sciences and researcher at the eHealth Center of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) explains, the time that users spend on these platforms helps to shape your account in such a way that, in no time, they will see exactly what interests them.

“It must be taken into account that social networks, as commercial products that they are, have no other purpose for their shareholders than to generate profit. Thus, the longer we stay within them, the more accurate will be the commercial recommendations that will come to us; They do this by analyzing our previous behavior on the Internet ”, says Armayones.

The set of design and customization techniques used in these applications to engage users are extensive and depend on each platform, according to the UOC researcher. “We have to think that nothing is by chance. The fact that certain information appears to us is part of the results of an algorithm that is trying to influence our behavior so that we buy products, change our mind, follow a certain page or person, etc. ”, adds Armayones.

Thus, social networks offer information that is emotionally relevant to the user. Hence the importance of people having a critical sense and reflecting on everything they see on these platforms. “The best way to avoid technological manipulation is to know that it exists and to be very aware when we make decisions in relation to the content that comes to us through social networks. We must always have a critical spirit and ask ourselves if what we are seeing is reality or what we believe to be reality ”, explains the researcher.

More and more people understand the risks

According to the UOC expert, the more social networks are used, the more difficult it will be to leave them because of all the effort, time and information that has been deposited in them.

“We pay the cost of using these applications in terms of loss of privacy; however, we are beginning to be aware of it ”, says Manuel Armayones.

The specialist points out that once we open a profile on this type of platform, we give up part of the control and, the longer we are in social networks generating information with each retweet, comment or like, the more data about our tastes, motivations and attitudes we provide .

In that sense, it recommends not opening accounts on all social networks. “It is becoming increasingly clear that for a rational use of these platforms, we must choose those that meet our needs. The important thing is to be fully aware that we are sharing information that is going to be used for commercial purposes, ”said Armayones.

However, he clarified that the use of social networks should not be condemned either, since they are part of our present and possibly future panorama; You only need to use them critically as you also accept that these types of platforms can contribute to positive changes in our behavior, for example, making us aware of problems on a global scale and encouraging us to participate in activities to improve our environment.

– .