Honestly, the lack of nuance when dealing with the Duchess of Sussex is absolutely mind-numbing. Today, some people are in uproar about recent comments Meghan made while speaking virtually at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Next Gen Virtual Summit. One headline? 'Meghan Markle compares social media users to "DRUG ADDICTS" - despite once being an avid Instagram fan.'
The headline, as well as the capitalisation, draws as much attention as possible to this aspect of Meghan's comment. But let's take a breath, shall we, and start with her quote.
'There are very few things in this world where you call the person who's engaging with it "a user"', Meghan says. 'People who are addicted to drugs are called users, and people who are on social media are called users.'
Where is the lie? Where is the exaggeration? Meghan is pointing out an actual fact. No one can disagree that we use the phrase 'drug users' and 'social media users.'
'There is something algorithmically that is in there that is creating this obsession that I think is very unhealthy for a lot of people,' she adds. 'I have a lot of concerns for people that have become obsessed with it and it is so much a part of our daily culture for so many people that it is an addiction.'
The statement of the fact that Meghan previously used Instagram is not the 'gotcha' moment that some may think it is. It is simply proof that she knows from her own, personal, authentic experience what she is talking about. She is not comparing social media users to drug addicts as explicitly as some headlines appear to suggest. She is drawing a line between certain aspects of behaviour in both sorts of users. But I'll say it explicitly: there are plenty of ways in which social media users are like those battling substance addictions.
When I wake up in the morning, I check my Instagram. If I have likes on my most recent post, it makes me feel good. It gives me a tiny high. If I don't, I wonder why. I wonder if I should have posted a different version, with a different filter. I will often take out my phone while in mid-conversation with friends and colleagues, simply to check if my wry tweet or Facebook post has been acknowledged by someone. Anyone. Scientific studies prove that social media validation releases dopamine, the 'feel good' chemical.
Earlier this week, Instagram's stories experienced a glitch, which saw users (yes, users, we call them users) could no longer see who has viewed their posts. There was a panic. Some took to Twitter to complain that they couldn't check if their crushes had seen their thot pics. Was it life and death? Of course not. But people denied the hit that they so craved were truly annoyed, even distressed, by its withdrawal. And they simply jumped to another social media platform to seek a separate kind of hit. A colleague is four days into a complete social media detox - she had found herself driven to distraction and wished to be rid of its hold on her life. She is struggling, but resolute.
Social media is dangerous. Anyone who has seen Netflix's The Social Dilemma knows this. Data mining. Privacy breaches. Everything we do on social media is being monitored and potentially used against us, to sell us things or, most bizarrely, to sell our viewing habits to others. It is not simply a bit of fun. It has consequences.
I am not suggesting that a person's fondness for Twitter and Instagram is a genuine equivalent to a person battling, say, a heroin addiction. Of course it isn't. But there are real, undeniable parallels. Pretending that there are not, simply so that you can be angry with Meghan - do you really need another reason? - is to present yourself as wilfully ignorant and lacking any understanding of subtlety.
When dealing with the media's portrayal of Meghan Markle, I ask you follow a simple list of one instruction before getting angry: read her quotes, not the headlines. Language is all about context, and you don't want to show yourself up as lacking basic levels of comprehension. If that makes you itch to get onto Twitter to criticise me, then you're sort of proving my point.
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