Social Media

Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc. A topic that is maybe the most argued upon by teenagers and their parents. Social media can be defined in 2 ways:

1. Websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.

2. Social media are interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation or sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks.

Well, definitions are done. Let’s now look at the pros of Social Media:

1. The ability to almost connect instantaneously with loved ones, no matter what the distance.

2. Laptops and Smartphones can now keep us connected on the go, which means we don’t need to depend on landlines or fax machines for relaying information.

3. We don’t need to depend on the newspaper anymore for information. If we want to know what’s happening around us or something that’s happening in the world, we can use Social Media to obtain information.

4. Business owners, celebrities, and many organizations use Social Media to share content and to attract people. Many entrepreneurs and start-ups depend heavily on Social Media for growing their business and also to generate profits, revenue, asset formations, etc.

5. Social Media is sometimes just simply fun. Many a time, people like to take time off from their professional work and text (and even call) their loved ones, which social media allows. To sum it up, Social Media can act as a stress reliever for a lot of people.

Now that we’ve looked at how Social Media has helped us, let’s look at some of the ways that Social Media has been harmful to us:

1. With so much information being shared on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, in the form of videos, captions, tweets, etc., it can overwhelm the Human Mind. Also, many people are very desperate for followers on platforms such as Instagram or Facebook, which sometimes puts their privacy at severe risk.

2. Sharing your geographical location through posts, tweeting something inappropriate about your work or even social sites owning your content, privacy has become a major issue for social media platforms. Sometimes, even the most harmless mishap can result in a major issue, which sometimes can be irreversible.

3. For many people, especially teenagers and young adults, fitting in with their peers is a huge problem, which can lead to an individual doing certain things or acting in a certain manner (known as Peer Pressure), and this is even more dangerous on Social Media. Many times, individuals may feel compelled to post pictures on platforms or do a certain trick, which can lead to cyberbullying, depression, stress, anxiety, physical damage, etc.

4. Distraction is very common for teenagers and adults. And Social Media is one of the most common reasons for distraction. The constant notifications and the texts can be very disturbing for children, especially when they are trying to study.

Now, when I was researching for this article, I came across one more negative effect on Social Media, and this is something I wanted to talk about, which is why I didn’t put it on the list. So, another said ‘negative’ effect of Social Media is that:

‘INCREASED FEELINGS OF SOCIAL ISOLATION: Since people are now connected all the time and you can pull up a friend's social profile with a click of your mouse or a tap of your smartphone, it's a lot easier to use online interaction as a substitute for face-to-face interaction. Some people argue that social media promotes antisocial human behavior.’

Now I wanted to just say that how can you be anti-social when you are actually texting people you know? I mean, there are a lot of instances where 2 people do meet over Social Media, and there have been a lot of scams and cyberbullying, but this isn’t a very common act. In my school, especially my squad, we spend a lot of time together and also have a group on Instagram, which allows us to talk about more stuff, as we get only 40 minutes for Lunch and we have to talk to a lot of people. Over here, instead of making us anti-social, we’re cultivating and developing relationships. I think there are many instances where Social Media has led to fake relationships between people who haven’t even seen each in real life, but we can’t call it a negative effect of Social Media, because at the end of the day, we, as individuals, need to practice self-awareness on Social Media.

Also, I’ve seen a lot of people allow random people to follow them, especially on Instagram, just so that they can show off about the number of followers they have. This is basically what I meant by Peer Pressure. This leads to something known as ‘Morphing’. It’s when people use your photos (without your permission) and then use it for posting it on a ‘fake’ account of you, or may use it for editing and replacing. Whichever way it is used, it can have very adverse effects on the individual who's being morphed. This is something that urgently needs to be addressed because this only increases the chances of cyberbullying.

To sum it up, I think Social Media has been a major invention for mankind, and one that’s helped it grow. We need some more regulations and awareness (which are being undertaken by many platforms, such as Screen Time Monitoring), and it might just become one of the best creations of Humanity. I think the urgency of discussing and solving the cons of Social Media is still something we need to consider.