Social Media: An Everyday Reality

In the space of a single generation, social media have transformed how billions of people make friends, build communities, and share knowledge. However, approaches that suggest harm occurs based solely on time spent using social media disguise this everyday reality. In response, this chapter points towards the importance of understanding who uses social media in daily life, why and how. While we have more data than ever to help us explore the impacts of new technologies, including social media, everyday experiences require description alongside careful theorizing about the mechanisms that might cause benefits or harms. This collectively shifts research priorities towards applied applications that can mitigate problems, injustices, and inequalities that social media and other digital cultures can foster.