The impact of social comparison | Islam

Competition

Abstract

 As calling this era as modern because of advanced technology but we are lagging behind the spiritual part of our life which is now showing its impact on our societies more severely than the darkness of early years.

“The more we advanced only material objects but lacked the advancement of our behaviours . It is not wrong to say that the more we advanced our material, the back we moved spiritually”

In this article we will cite the impact of social comparison on our lives . It will help us to diagnose right approach in our societies for empowerment of inner peace.

Discourse

 The term “social comparison” can be defined as the measure of oneself while taking others as reference.

 According to the theory of Leon festinger in 1954

“Individuals determine their own social and personal wroth based on how they measure up against others”

He stated three kinds of social comparison

1. Upward comparison : comparison while taking reference those who have higher status quo. It is harmful as it leads to anxiety, envy and depression.

2. Downward comparison: comparison with those of lower social influence. It is beneficial as it provides positivity and internal peace.

3. Lateral comparison: comparison between those of same social status quo. It also provides satisfaction and positivity.

Just think for a moment

Upward comparison has negative impact upon us. This kind of comparison causes downfall of our right goals and leads us in despair and hopelessness. This awful comparison is always in search of famecity, envy, and haughtiness.

 Our prophet pbuh has denounced this kind of approach which even leads kings to massacre hundreds and thousands of people for merely obtaining wealth and fame. The contemporary world has overwhelmed with such heinous behaviour.

There is no place of envy and fame in our Islam. Prophet Muhammad pbuh has said “envy and imaan can never co-exist in the heart of a believer”. In another narration “Two hungry wolves sent against a flock of sheep cannot cause more damage to them than a man’s eagerness for wealth and prominence causes to his religious commitment.”

A believer has to make the sight of Allah most beloved. He should always seek high in the sight of most highest.

Itrestingly , look at the second type of comparison i,e downward comparison. This comparison is comfortable and makes one grateful to his Lord. In one authentic narration prophet Muhammad pbuh has narrated that “you should look to those who are downtrodden than you”. It has positive effect on our life. It protects us from loving this world, prevents from harmful psychological effects and holds us on thanking Allah. Hence this kind of approach is right for living a life of simplicity and happiness. And thus our Islam is right treatment for psychological problems as well.

  Effects of Facebook

          

        Mark Zuckerberg has had just about the worst week a billionaire can have. 

A set of stories published by the Wall Street Journal based on leaked Facebook files revealed that the company knew how bad its product was for the emotional health of teenagers, the well-being of American democracy and the spread of conspiracy theories – and that executives let it all slide.

The situation came to a dramatic head this week when the whistleblower who leaked the files, Frances Haugen, a data engineer and product manager who had been placed on a team tasked with protecting Facebook’s “civic integrity,” testified before a Senate subcommittee. Haugen made it clear that the company had no interest in anything but enormous profit, no matter who got hurt.

As if to underscore Facebook’s ongoing travails, the platform crashed on Monday (along with Instagram and Whatsapp, both owned by the company) due to a technical error. 

This reckoning has been a long time coming. We already knew that Facebook could manipulate our moods – the company’s  “emotional contagion” experiment produced a scandal in 2014. Shoshana Zuboff, author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, has described how Facebook’s predictive modeling allowed them to help companies market things to teens at moments of peak insecurity. And the Cambridge Analytica scandal and investigations into Russian trolls have also raised serious concerns about the platform’s role in an ostensibly democratic society.

Some are describing this as Facebook’s “Big Tobacco” moment or suggesting that its “best days are behind it.” Nearly everyone looked with scorn on last week’s defensive testimony by Facebook’s global head of safety Antigone Davis.

We can hope that these hearings will produce more serious regulatory efforts than previous installments of that never-ending soap: drag tech execs into Congress and make them whine. Yet while everyone can agree that tech companies need reigning in, Congress remains a gridlocked disaster unlikely to pass much of anything. 

More troublingly, what Facebook is accused of – using huge amounts of data about us to manipulate our moods and politics, or letting others do so for a fee – is the foundation of the modern tech economy. The more we know, the scarier it gets, but can anyone slam on the brakes? It won’t be Zuck.

— Sarah Leonard (@sarahrlnrd)             (  AJ+ email)