Reactions: the go-to responses available in social media
With over 4.26 billion people using social media worldwide in 2021, it's no wonder that so many of us are addicted to checking our phones and tablets so regularly. That number is set to rise to a whopping 6 billion in 5 years, too.
Before we knew the power of PR and journalism, Homo Sapiens were storytellers. Historian, philosopher and author Yuval Noah Harari outlines the impact storytelling had on us as mammals in his trilogy: Sapiens, Homo Deus and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. In his, arguably heavy, but enjoyable books, he answers the question as to how storytelling shaped our communities and ways of cohabiting within society.
Some values of which are still pertinent today.
The Cognitive Revolution
Around 70,000 years ago the cognitive revolution was born. Not to be confused with the cognitive revolution of the 1950s*. This was the beginning of an exciting form of communication for Sapiens and our imaginations. As far as we know, we are the only living mammals that can talk about things that have never existed before, which sparked idealisation, myths, religions.
*The cognitive revolution of the 1950s refers to a significant shift in psychology and related fields that focused on understanding and studying mental processes, such as perception, memory, problem-solving, and language.
It was the beginning of imagination. Due to our ability to organise and establish communities based on shared beliefs among more people than was previously possible, Homo sapiens emerged as the leader in the race to develop. So where are we now?
How many elements of communication are there?
Communication is a complex process involving various elements that effectively convey information. Stripped down, you could define communication with these four points:
Words
Tone of voice
Body language
And finally - social media
But what is communication? The communication process involves understanding, sharing, and meaning, and it consists of eight essential elements: source, message, channel, receiver, feedback, environment, context, and interference. As a species and a society, we rely on communication.
If you’re a Baby Boomer, you probably aren’t familiar with good communication.
How has communication changed?
There's no denying that technology has drastically changed the way we communicate. It is reported that a staggering 25% of young people prefer to text rather than to pick up the phone nowadays. Which, across the board, is causing a whole host of mental health issues in young people.
But who are we to blame? Social media firms allow us to communicate with each other by simply tapping a button and choosing a default, pre-packaged emotion.
These basic reactions include Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry.
Does it bring us pleasure to give and receive in such a way? The truth is, it does. Upload story, friend reacts with a love heart, dopamine hits. But surely we have the ability to express more. The human brain is the most complex structure in the universe. So how, as humans, are we reduced to this simple form of communication?
Are these a fair representation of the complexities of human emotions? We can put it all down to the rise of the like button.
The rise of the like button
Emerging in the late 2000s, this seemingly simple feature revolutionised how we express approval, agreement, or appreciation in the digital realm. Popularised by social media platforms like Facebook, the like button provided an immediate and effortless way for users to engage with content.
Its success tapped into the psychology of affirmation, fulfilling the need for social validation and creating a sense of connection in an increasingly interconnected world.
Affirmation, social validation, connection: sound familiar? All these delicate emotions that we carry in our influential years (childhood, teenage years) are being continually tapped into through the use of the like button, and social media reactions. And, unfortunately, it is not uncommon for individuals to measure their worth through the numbers of likes, or reactions, received.
Which begs the question of whether something so detrimental to our well-being should be so easily accessible to everyone? Especially from such a young age.