Title: The Impact of Social Media on Society | The Ad Council
Headings: 
Social Media's Impact on Society
Mental Health
Extremism & Hate
So, What Does This Mean for Marketers?

Content: The Impact of Social Media on Society | The Ad Council
Learn With Us > AdLibbing Articles > Good in Action
Social Media's Impact on Society
AdLibbing
August 4, 2019
Good in Action
Social media is an undeniable force in modern society. From giving us new ways to come together and stay connected to the world around us, to providing an outlet for expression, social media has fundamentally changed the way we initiate, build and maintain our relationships. But while it feels like social media has become commonplace in our daily lives, the reality is that social media, as a technology, is still in its infancy. We still have so much more left to learn about the intricacies of the algorithms and design, especially when it comes to their impact on society. Read on to see what’s on marketers’ minds when it comes to the impact of social media: Mental Health
You’ve likely heard at least something about the negative impacts that social media can have on mental health. Recently, experts are weighing in on the role that the design and build of social media platforms plays in exasperating these concerns. For example, at SXSW 2019, Aza Raskin, co-founder of the Center for Human Technology, spoke on a panel about the “digital loneliness epidemic,” which focused on the global rise in depression and loneliness as it correlates to social media use. In that discussion, Raskin spoke about the “infinite scroll” or the design principle that enables users to continuously scroll through their feeds, without ever having to decide whether to keep going. It’s hard to imagine what the bottom of an Instagram feed would look like, so we certainly can’t envision what it would be like to have to choose “next page” if we were to get there.