The Complex Social Matrix

Suniya Sayeed

                      
ABSTRACT
All of the data we are scrolling all the time is saved in their system, which has zero regulation,
and they are making a better and better forecast about what we are up to and what are our
interests. This extensive research will give you a gist of how their data, their power, their trend
is YOU. It is perplexing because we are living in a utopian world and at the same time we are
experiencing a dystopian world so the question here is how do we wake up from the matrix
when we don’t even know we are in the matrix? Iqbal (2021)The research conducted by
Snapchat of their users from 2015-2020 shows an immense increase, doubling their revenue.
Snapchat Revenue and Usage Statistics: User Statistics. Business of apps
Technology is exceeding and overwhelming human weaknesses, now it has become an
addiction for every individual and this addiction is considered as their ease. This online world
has become primary and a need for us that is being monitored and tracked at every instance.
Thus, by this time people should realize that all the social media platforms are competing for
their attention. The business model of the companies like Facebook, Google, Instagram,
YouTube, Twitter, and a lot more is to keep people engaged on their screen and finding ways
how they can make us stay for more and more hours scrolling our feed and sticking to the visual
screen for hours.   
Introduction
Internet tracking happens across all social media platforms which are also synced with all the
social media pages. Everything we do online is being watched, tracked, and being measured.
Our movement and taps on the screen are carefully monitored which also includes that how
long do we stay on a single screen which is referred to as session duration/engagement time.
Not only our activity is being monitored but also our emotions, they know when people are
depressed or lonely and would suggest you the content according to the mood for example if
you stayed long reading a motivational quote on Instagram, it will flood your search posts with
motivational quotes posted by different accounts. It can predict what kind of videos will keep
you watching, what kind of emotions tend to trigger you for example if there is an account that
has videos and content related to arts and if you are following it watching every content, it
would always suggest you watch their stories on priority. 

The three main goals that these tech companies are working on are as following:
1. The engagement goal: To force you just to keep you scrolling your feed
2. The growth goal: So that you keep inviting friends, increase their number and their
reach
3. The advertising goal: To make sure that the companies who are relying on ads for the
boost in their sales get their desired sales target and ultimately companies will be
spending more money on ads. 
Each of their goals is powered by algorithms that are designed according to the interest of the
users and making them stay longer.

The term “growth hacking” plays a major role to hack people’s psyches so that they can get
more traffic. If we take an example of Facebook or Instagram tagging, we just receive a
notification saying that one of our friends has tagged us in a particular picture, and at that
point, our curiousness will increase that what picture is that or why did they tag us so
ultimately, we will tap onto the notification and look at the picture. Well, the question here lies
that why the notification doesn’t come with the picture in which we are tagged in? 

Social media has its objectives, delivering the data or content using our psyche against us.
These media platforms were drafted to design the algorithms that can recommend us the video
similar to the video we liked before or watched before, and if we come to picture the filtered
pictures or filters have taken a new turn in today’s world. It is an increasing weakness in
people’s mindsets. We were never told or taught to think what thousands of people think of us.
We were not instructed to have an approval stamp that yes we are sustainable enough for this
socially constructed image by society and the world of fake beauty filters. We are living with the
sense of perfection because we are being rewarded by the signals like hearts, likes, comments,
share, thumbs up and we tend to confuse with the actual truth.

Literature Review
Kellmereit (2013) According to Arthur C Clarke “Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic” (pg.157) The media throughout the globe is working like a magic.
It seems like this media is generating ease for us in reference to the trends that we need in our
feed but ideally this media is manipulating us.

Miller (2013) United States conducted a research of suicidal deaths and admissions for non-
fatal self-harm because of not reaching up to the socially constructed beauty standards by
society. It shows that the suicide was attempted by Gen Z, the generation who got access to the
social media in the middle school (kids born after 1996).

Mark Zuckerberg the CEO of Facebook announced that billions of people have used Facebook in
a day to connect to their friends and family in 2015 that must have now expanded more to like
billions of people are making accounts and socializing not in a day but in hours.

Methodology
Quantitative method is chosen for the research. Data of suicidal deaths were collected using
the data set acquired by different hospitals who are keeping close observation.

Additionally, the questionnaire will be appropriate for the research because I can choose the
age bracket for the survey and the target population my own self.

Social survey will also be the quantitative method, this will give more options of questions while
physical interaction. The study of their behavior, opinion and attitude will produce reliable
results.
The statistical analysis of the increase in users of snapchat is also helpful to determine the
frequency of increase in the users over the time. This addiction gave rise to the data losses by
sticking up to the screen for hours and hours, getting yourself tracked and monitored every
second and are eventually being controlled by them.

Discussion
Ritger (2018) The survey conducted in US shows the gradual increase in the usage over the six
years.
Facebook and YouTube are very influential in the above stats as there are huge number of users
actively participating on YouTube. And at the same time if we see the below stats of young
people using Instagram very frequently. Facebook stays the number one platform for most
individuals. And the most alarming part is that WhatsApp has the least users that indicates that
the pictures, videos, trends keep the consumers intact.

So this study gives us the sense that in 2018 Americans have experienced that negative wave of
media and if we conduct research as of 2021 we will experience a drastic change in respect to
the number of users. However, this study lacks the age group that fails to target the precise age
that can be affected by social constructionism.

Conclusion
The above study gives us an idea that which social media platform is likely to be blamed that
overcome the one’s strength, self-confidence, reality, data, privacy and much more. Our
attention can be diverted or distracted very easily by playing with out interests and stored data.
As long as our corporations and authorities go unregulated, and we don’t abide by the rules
they will the next generation.

References
Daniel Kellmereit, Daniel Obodovski. (2013). The Silent Intelligence:  CORE APPLICATION
DOMAINS (1st edition). DnD Ventures - Book

Aaron Smith (2018). Social Media use in 2018: Pew Research Center survey of U.S. Pew
Research Center

Mansoor Iqbal (2021). Snapchat Revenue and and Usage Statistics: User Statistics. Business of
apps

Cory Doctorrow (2021). Reasons not to let facebook make decision about your privacy.
Electronic Frontier Foundation EEF

Tom Simonite (2016). Largest study of online tracking proves google really is watching us all.
Technology Review

Sylvia E Peacock (2014). How web tracking changes user agency in the age of big data: the used
user. Journals.sage.pub

Ted R Miller (2013). Suicide deaths and non-fatal hospital: Temporality by day of week.
PMC.Article

Elizebeth Ritger (2018). Social Media trends in 2018): Majority users use facebook.
Blog.twentyoverten