The Endless Cycle: Battling Social Media Fatigue in a Sea of New Apps explores the overwhelming struggle users face as they try to keep up with the constant influx of platforms, highlighting the challenges of staying connected in an ever-expanding digital landscape.Navigating the endless cycle of new social media apps, users find themselves battling fatigue as they strive to stay connected and engaged in a sea of constant platform launches.
Downloading, scrolling, posting, and repeating has become an exhausting routine due to the constant influx of new social media apps. Evadne Eddins, like many others, has joined numerous platforms over the years in an attempt to stay connected and informed. Despite feeling tired, Eddins and her peers download these apps because they don’t want to feel left out.
Twitter’s recent struggles with new management have given rise to competitors like Mastodon, Bluesky, Spill, and Threads. However, instead of feeling excited about these alternatives, many social media users express fatigue with the seemingly never-ending parade of new platforms. This fatigue has been building up for a long time as users have experienced the rise and fall of various social media sites. Now, they find themselves constantly switching between the latest platforms that often lack originality and innovation, according to experts.
Laura Bright, a professor of media analytics, explains that social media fatigue used to mean being overwhelmed by the content, but now it extends to the overwhelming number of applications available. In the late ’90s and early 2000s, social media sites like Friendster, Hi5, and Myspace had a significant impact, but their influence was not as ubiquitous as today. Presently, more than 70 percent of Americans use social media, engaging with an average of six platforms. Millennials, like Eddins, have a trail of active and inactive social media profiles, contributing to their feeling of constant screen time and fatigue.
Despite this fatigue, there is still a desire to be part of the latest trends, leading individuals like Eddins to join new apps like Spill and Threads. However, she finds that these apps often borrow and copy from each other, lacking genuine innovation. This repetitive cycle creates user fatigue and disappointment. Users have high expectations for new platforms, having already experienced the effort of creating profiles and convincing their friends to join. The fatigue extends not only to the creation and maintenance of multiple profiles but also to platforms in general.
When Twitter limited the number of posts users could see, Danny Grover, a marketing director, reflected on his professional reliance on social media. While he turned to Bluesky as an alternative, he found that it couldn’t replace the connections he had on Twitter. Grover, like many others, continues to search for a platform that meets his needs.
The article highlights that most new platforms are launched by Silicon Valley giants aiming to capitalize on Twitter’s perceived decline, rather than focusing on what users actually want. The motivation behind creating new apps is often driven by the question of “why not?” rather than providing unique and valuable features.
In light of the ongoing social media boom, users are advised to approach each platform critically, considering factors like data privacy, attention span impact, ease of use, and the presence of their network. It’s important for users to ensure that they are actively using the app rather than being exploited by it.
In conclusion, the article captures the fatigue experienced by users due to the constant release of new social media apps and the lack of originality. Users are encouraged to prioritize their well-being and critically assess the platforms they engage with to avoid app-related fatigue.
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