5 hours ago
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Frances Ryan is right to point out the dangers of social media apps (Given the toxicity of social media, a moral question now faces all of us: is it still ethical to use it?, 14 February), but she also acknowledges how beneficial they can be. In my early days on Bluesky, I began questioning why I was spending time building a following. I wanted to promote my books because I believed that they had the potential to help many people, but book sales didn’t actually increase.
Still, I continued. I posted Arwa Mahdawi’s powerful column about the Save Act. I was able to let countless people know for the first time how dangerous this law would be. Then a researcher friend told me that he was having trouble getting people to complete a survey on gender-affirming care. With the help of others on the platform, we were able to get many participants for him.
The platform is only as good as the people who run it. When I first started on UpScrolled, an Australian platform, I wondered why the feed quickly ran out. Issam Hijazi designed the app to keep users from becoming addicted.
Social media, like any tool, can be used for good or evil. It is the moral values of the designers and the users that determine which.
Randy Fair
Wilton Manors, Florida, US
For many, there is no ethical dilemma. Social media in its current form, contrived and controlled by greedy and malevolent tech oligarchs, serves no benefit. There is no doubt that using it is unethical. From the individual psychological, emotional and physical harm it causes its users, to the impact on personal relationships through to the deep and pervasive damage it has inflicted on society, it is nothing other than a manifestation of the worst of humanity and a mechanism for controlling and enslaving populations.
Please do not assume that we all use social media. I have never used it and have far better things to do with my life. I don’t think it is a coincidence that my teenage children also show no interest. Ethically, I’d suggest that the grownups among us start setting a better example to our young people by logging out – for good.
Ruth Tanton
Bristol
Frances Ryan rightly bemoans the toxicity of major social media platforms. I would ask her to please take a look at Mastodon and the broader Fediverse. These social media systems were largely created by people of various minorities who found themselves uncomfortable or unwelcome on the mainstream commercial systems. They are amateur operations that depend on user donations to keep running, but they have no advertising and no commercial pressure to exploit their users. So each user decides which people and/or hashtags they want to follow, and there is no other obscure algorithm deciding what you see or don’t see. This does mean that it can take a little longer to find everyone and everything you are interested in, but it is well worth it.
Colin Macleod,
High Barnet, London
In my opinion it is time to leave social media. I gave it up a few years ago when I was abused online by a stranger in a gardening group on Facebook. I don’t miss it. I live in the real world now. Meanwhile, the online world is reported to be nastier than ever. I am retired, with plenty of time for real-world friendships and connections. It must be a lot more difficult to make this decision if you are very time-poor or unable to leave your home due to disability or caring responsibilities. For those who find it useful, let’s keep the platforms, but regulate them better through legislation and demand ethical site management.
Paula Barnett
Manuka, Canberra, Australia
I left Facebook within days of Mark Zuckerberg dumping the factcheckers. It was the last straw in a relationship that was becoming increasingly wearisome. I miss some groups, such as gardening and naturalists’ fora, where useful information is shared, but so much of the platform’s content is unnecessary, even if amusing, that I feel a deep sense of relief and freedom to have escaped.
Pat Ready
Welling, London
