Social Media And Its Impact On Society

As we all know, social media has a tremendous impact on society and has affected in some way our daily life, relationships, and/or business. Every day, people around the world access famous social media network sites such as facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and so on to find out about other people, others might use social networking to reconnect with old friends, make new friends, or even meet their spouse. The excessive use of social media websites might bring negative effects; while for other people, it might bring satisfaction or positive effects. Technological advancements such as the internet, have given us the opportunity to connect with other people anytime and anywhere in the world. Pretty much all around the world, everyone has access to the World Wide Web via a desktop computer or smart phones. The fact is that no matter our current location or destination we might go, social media will always be following us as long as we have that direct connection. The main focus of this paper is to identify the good and bad of social media, and the current and future problems it will bring.

While many people put off and ignore the issue of social media and its downfalls, others say that people should think about how our lives are being affected by this advancement in technology, including, lack of human contact and precious time being lost due to consumption with social media. Social media is currently a highly controversial topic in which numerous people have mixed feelings. Society has typically viewed new advancements in technology as beneficial and a sign of success within their country. But, has it solely caused successful outcomes, or are there downfalls to these advancements?

Today’s world is influenced by many factors. One of which is technology; many things have been created that have revolutionized society. Social Media is one of the newly invented platforms, which have come out as a result of technology. Social media is used on the web or via applications where users can view, share and learn about what others in their lives, communities and countries are doing. Social media has made communication very effective in today’s day and age and has helped many people in many ways; however, social media also has its downsides. Social media has made our lives less private and has allowed people to be able to find out confidential information about us. This topic is vital because all people using social media, from all different age groups, should be aware of the risks involved within social media because their privacy could be invaded by anyone. Social media can thus be seen as a threat as people can set out to harm you through invasion of your privacy. Social media is bad because it affects or privacy and communication skills.

Since we as a society are currently living in the age known as the Technological Revolution, chances are that in some form or fashion you are aware of and have been exposed to social media. Well, imagine a world where the use of social media became more structured and used to improve education as opposed to just being used for keeping in touch with friends and family, sharing pictures, and seeing how many likes you can get per post. According to the Business Insider Intelligence Report of 2014, social media is now the top Internet activity in the world, Americans’ specifically “spend more time on social media than any other major Internet activity, including email” (Business Insider). Considering this information, it is obvious that social media plays a vital role and impacts the lives of our nation on a daily basis. Some argue that its impact can be negative and a distraction to the educational experience of the younger generation. Regardless of your personal opinion, what if educators were to work with the use of social media for educational purposes. Since it is highly used, it would not only gain the learner’s interest but also would reach more people at large. Therefore, we should learn to better utilize social media in a more constructive educational manner.

When most individuals hear the term social media they instantly think of Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and other social networks we use today. Social media didn’t start with computers; however, social media dates back as early as 1792 with the telegraph explain Hendricks (2013). Social media started to spike in the early 1950’s when the phone became popular. Between the 50’s and the 90’s, many social media ideas were brought to life but eventually died; Border states most of these focused around a “Bulletin Board System”.

In recent years, it 's become rather common to turn on the television, log into Facebook, or use some other form of social networking and see a plethora of breaking news headlines regarding excessive violence used by police officers. The general American populous turn on the news after dinner on a nightly basis, and learn of horrific stories where officers are continuously abusing their authoritative powers. Because of an ever growing role of social media coverage in our lives, we are impressed to believe that police brutality has become a growing trend in our society when in reality, that simply isn 't the case.

Technology has developed into one of the most valuable assets to everyday life. The social media apps developed from technology have opened many doors to allow the impossible possible. Being able to buy things online with the click of a mouse, chatting with a friend who lives across the country, depositing a check through your smart phone, and the possibilities are continuously endless. With more and more incredible innovations happening on a daily basis. Much has been made of the growth of social media and its impact on society. This impact can vastly be seen as a positive through the eyes of the general public, a strong perception driven in part by the social media itself, but as social media in all its forms has grown, an argument can inevitably be made that there has been a corresponding diminishment of personal privacy. Many forget that there is a price attached to having free sharing of personal information.

Ed Stetzer, president of Lifeway Research, writes, “If your student ministry is a four-year holding tank with pizza, don’t expect young adults to stick around.” Dr. Stetzer is referring to the current epidemic seen in America involving the church. American churches, and churches around the world, are experiencing a decrease in their attendance. At the current rate, less than ten percent of Americans will attend church, by the year 2050. The largest age group of those leaving the church is Generation Y or, as they are better known, Millennials. The lack of community, authenticity, and faith are contributing factors to the drop of millennials attendance seen in the American church.

It’s more than likely that the first thing you reach for in the morning is your phone and the last thing you put down before you go to bed. As technology advances our brains are adjusting to the new technology. The way we absorb information is changing, our memories are being impacted and the way we read is changing. Well what is social media? Social media is a bunch of Internet sites that enable people from all over the world to interact with photos, messages, audio and videos. “The very first social media site was created in 1997; it wasn’t until the early 2000s when it took off”. It is estimated that one third of the world’s population uses a form of social media. Studies said that social media has changed the way our brain functions. If our brains are being affected by social media/internet then social media should come with warning so people’s health wouldn’t be affected.

Social media provides an outlet that reflects our lives online. It is changing the way we relate to others and how we think about ourselves. Users of social media have created for themselves a social footprint. This footprint marks where they are and where they have been online. Their lifestream is now recorded in the timeline of their social networks. Participants in social media now have a digital identity, which shows their activity with a time and date stamp in reverse chronological order. The users social brand is created by any online interactions that have been created by leaving information (Solomon, 2015).

The amount of users in social media has increased in numbers over the years. The use of social media has been used throughout different industries including collegiate sports. Over the years it has been seen to increase fan support and interactions, increase the numbers in ticket sales and help with recruiting. Social media has even posed as a danger into hurting a brand throughout recent events.

What kind of world could possibly exist without some form of a Facebook, a Twitter, or an Instagram? Perhaps, it would be a world so unjust; people would actually have to call all of their five hundred and twenty-nine best friends by phone. So that they may share with them, the stale bread with one slice of turkey meat sandwich, they bought during lunch! Social media websites like, Facebook or Twitter are portals to information and communication. It has provided new and exciting opportunities for people all around the world to be able to connect with each other more easily than ever before. It has also helped businesses to flourish, and provides just about every answer to a sought out question. The internet superhighway so to speak, has created an excessive need. And as a result, it has become such a craze, that the sophisticated computers used to access the internet, now play a major role in everyone’s life; including children. Many gaming systems, cellular phones, and other electronics readily made available to children all have the potential to easily access the internet. Ever thought about what effects might such a craze have on children? For instance, could the excess of internet use with social media in particular, pose any implications onto children? The excessive partaking in social media amongst children- inhibits their productivity, interferes with the development of their social skills, and desensitizes their outlooks.

The term ‘social media’ has become a broad-term to describe a large number of online systems that serve as a platform for the generation, and distribution of user-generated content. Social media creates a virtual social space, where a large number of users come together and interact with one another. These interactions can be either structured, such as responses that are moderated on blogs, semi-structured, such as a discussion between an extended network on Facebook, or unstructured, such as the anarchial functioning of Twitter.

Social media is said to be the cornerstone for communications between everyone in the world. Social media refers to the interaction among individuals in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in cyber communities and networks. Social media sites negatively affect society by destroying an individual’s ability for independent thinking; consequently, these sites should be banned. There are many psychological effects, constant distraction social media provides for people, and the risk of sexual harassment/ cyber bullying.

Yawn. Post. Tweet. Share. Repeat. Three quarters of eighteen-to-twenty-four-year-olds say that they reach for their phones immediately upon waking up in the morning (Weisberg). What are they reaching for? The desire to stay on top of what others are doing is a major point in society. Social media is commonly defined by the repetitive collaboration of keeping up with modern technology. Social networking has a negative role in society whether those affected realize it or not. But it is not only millennials who affected by this routine, it is all age groups. Once out of bed, we check our phones 221 times a day—an average of every 4.3 minutes—according to a UK study (Weisberg). Snap Chat, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are the Founding Fathers of the digital campaign. “Human character changed on or about December 2010, when everyone, it seemed, started carrying a smartphone” (Mendelson). With a smartphone in hand, people are constantly refreshing, and clicking away to stay updated with what other people are doing. In a recent study by the research firm eMarketer, Americans spend an average of five and a half hours a day with digital media, more than half of that time on mobile devices (Weisberg). This is not only in America: it is a worldwide phenomenon that needs to be stopped.