Discussion Three - Rebekah Krofchick

Nancy Baym discusses the role of social media in creating anxieties around the interactivity of social media and our reliance on technology. This can be fully illustrated by applying Bayms theory of the domestication of technology to the StatsCan report on social media use in the lives of Canadians. What is interesting about the StatsCan findings is the difference in reporting of negative consequences of social media among age groups. Chart One shows that the study reported that teens and young adults (under 30) experienced increased feelings of anxiety and depression, loss of sleep, trouble concentrating, and decreased physical activity (Schimmele et al., 2021). In addition, the study found that 9 in 10 Canadians between 15 and 34 use social media regularly compared to 6 in 10 of those aged 50 to 64 (Schimmele et al., 2021). These findings illustrate how younger generations feel more negative effects of social media than their older counterparts because they are more dependent on this technology. 

 

I think there is an argument to be made about how the uptake of social media in our daily lives increases feelings of anxiety around the very technology we’ve become reliant on. Nancy Bayms theory of the domestication of technology highlights how we no longer engage in discourse around the negative implications of technology, therefore these technologies become invisible or domesticated (Baym, 2015) These technologies, including social media, become an embedded part of our everyday life and we no longer interrogate the social consequences of digital media and our increased reliance on it. The difference in reporting across age groups in the StatsCan report highlights this point as younger generations, who grew up with domesticated technology and social media, have experienced more negative consequences of this technology. That is, as we become more reliant on technology, our interactions online come to have effects offline. For older generations, this is not experienced as they do not interact with digital media to the same level as those younger who’ve been raised relying on this technology. As technology continues to be domesticated, these negative feelings related to the use of social media and digital technology increase. We become forced to interact with these technologies to function within society, and this forced interactivity has increasingly negative effects. According to Bayms theory of the domestication of technology, these technologies have faded into the background of our society, so their negative implications are rarely brought to the forefront (Baym, 2015). This allows digital media to continue to dominate our social interactions and daily experiences. Overall, applying Nancy Bayms theory of the domestication of technology to the results of the StatsCan report uncovers how as digital media has become more embedded into our daily lives, there is an increase in negative consequences. However, we do not often interrogate the role of technology in this process, nor do we take steps to remove destructive technology from our lives, because we have become so reliant on technology to define our social interactions. 

 

References

Baym, N. K. (2015). Making New Media Make Sense. In Personal Connections in the Digital age. Wiley.

Schimmele, C., Fonberg, J., & Schellenberg, G. (2021). Canadians’ Assessments of Social Media in Their Lives. Economic and Social Reports, 1(3), 1–19. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.25318/36280001202100300004-eng