Ah social media, the apps we spend hours upon hours looking for the latest news and trends. As we gain so much laughter and fun trends from these apps, there is also one huge issue they all have, competition. It seems no matter who you are, you are always fighting against someone in the race for some sort of fame. Competition on these apps have been here from the very beginning, the race for follows, likes, comments, and notices. How come we are so competitive on these apps? Why do we feel the need to backtrack and take down one another for the sake of ourselves? From the day we started in this life, it has seemed like we are always competing against someone. We started from fighting to be the one that turns into a fetus, to fighting one another in gym class. Competition is how we live, it is how we grow and how we get adrenaline, of course, good competition is healthy, but at the point now in social media, is it too much? 

Ever since the rise of the social media app Tik Tok gained traction, it seems like these competitions have gotten ever harder and more serious than ever before. This app is the gateway towards fame and it is done in a very quick amount of time. Before Tik Tok the competition was youtube, EVERYONE wanted to be a huge YouTuber, some just for the money, but some wanted to start a change. These years were huge for growing influencers and a huge way for anyone who wanted a platform to grow into something amazing and new. Every few years it seems different apps will be the targets of fame outbreaks and who will be the next best thing. The question states though, how does this affect viewers and other active people on social media? How do they see the new influencers, and how do they handle the toxicity themselves? I managed to get two fellow users on these types of apps to ask them these questions, to see how it affects them physically and mentally. One of them is a freshman named Riley, the other is a twitter mutual of mine named Brynn. 

Interview with Riley.

Abigail: “How long has it been since you have been on social media?”

Riley:  “I joined social media around September 2016, because it was a trend.” 

Abigail: “When was the first time you noticed there was competition on these apps?”

Riley: “I didn’t notice any of the competition until late 2019, because that’s when I started to get a little older and understood what everything meant.” 

Abigail: “Have you ever wanted to have “fame” or “clout”?”

Riley: “No, because I noticed how competitive people were with fame and clout, and I knew I didn’t need to get into that.” 

Abigail: “Has fighting and competitiveness on social media ever affected you mentally?” 

Riley: “Not necessarily, because I was never really involved in any of it. I just watched it from behind a screen. It just got annoying seeing all of it and it was mentally exhausting to watch people argue over fame and clicks.” 

In our next interview, we will be interviewing Brynn, they are 14 years old. 

Abigail: “How long has it been since you have been on social media?”

Brynn: “It hasn’t been that long, I’ve only been on social media for maybe 2 years or so.” 

Abigail: “When was the first time you noticed there was competition on these apps?”

Brynn: “I noticed it around the time I first got it, everyone wanted fame and it was really sad.”

Abigail: “Have you ever wanted to have “fame” or “clout”?”

Brynn: “No I’m shy so I don’t like to interact with things such as fame.” 

Abigail: “Has fighting and competitiveness on social media ever affected you mentally?” 

Brynn: “Just a little bit, but not to the point sadly some others have had before.” 

Granted even though everyone and their mother uses social media, we need to understand the effects of this competition. We need to understand how it affects us as a person and our mental health. Most of these apps are just meant for fun and laughs, but these can also be huge job opportunities and ways to make it. It’s important we don’t get lost in the money and fame, but more importantly the joy we get of doing silly things with one another.