Would social networks have the same appeal if no acquaintance was using? According to segment researcher Leonardo Bursztyn of the University of Chicago, the answer is not and users would love social networks not to exist. Leonardo attended the event Brazil: Macroeconomic Stability, Climate Change and Social Progressat the University of Miami, sponsored by the XP Private Bank.
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According to the researcher, the time spent on social networks by adolescents is only lower than time sleeping in Brazil. “There is a strong movement to ban cell phones around the world, including Brazil,” he says.
Among the reasons that explain the excessive use of social networks are the social isolation present in the absence of use. This causes people to use a product that perhaps preferred not to exist first. But the person starts to use it because he has no control over the use of others and goes isolated if he does not use.
The effect is described in English by the Fear of Missing Out, which can be translated as fear of losing something) and, according to the researcher, makes even without enjoying the existence of social networks, people continue to present in major digital platforms.
SOCIAL NETWORK TRACK
“In networks like Tiktok and Instagram, it can be painful so that young people do not use and has a cost of not using,” he says. This is what constitutes the “social networking trap”, studied by the researcher. In his analyzes, Leonardo concluded that people consider it valuable to use social networks and would only accept to stop using being paid with large amounts.
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In a survey conducted with college students in the US, 57% of those analyzed, Tiktok users said they preferred the social network not to exist. In the case of Instagram, 58% of the surveyed users also consider that it would be better if it did not exist.
The logic is that the use does not bring benefits but avoids harms linked to the non -use of social networks.
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In his view, however, the problem could not be remedied through regulation. The researcher then created app to turn the lack of use of social networks into games. The application, called Nomo, aims to avoid use through collective challenges, which are made with friends and family.
