The Pros And Cons Of Social Media

Social networking sites (referred to more broadly as social media) are a collection of websites and applications that enable users to swap ideas, post updates and comments, and participate in activities and events while sharing their interests with other users. From general chit-chat to propagating breaking news, scheduling a date to following election results, gentle humor to serious research, social networking sites are used for a variety of reasons by various user communities. Nowadays, nearly every person who has access to a computer and Internet indulges in some kind of social networking on a daily basis. The introduction of social media has changed the entire dynamics of our lifestyles: the ways we live, work, and maintain our friendships. Despite its numerous advantages, social media does yield some negative effects. However, the benefits of social media greatly outweigh its negative effects.

One danger that is often overlooked by social networking users is social comparison. The phrase “social comparison” refers to the idea that people determine their own self-worth through evaluating and comparing themselves to others. This is especially prevalent on social networking sites. Users of social networking sites often strive to make their lives seem perfect. In order to achieve this, users will only post their “highlights” or positive points in their lives. One author states, "When you're on a site like Facebook, you get lots of posts about what people are doing. That sets up social comparison — you maybe feel your life is not as full and rich as those people you see on Facebook,” ("Social Media: Does social media have a positive impact on the world?"). However, it is not the fact that the users may unintentionally be posting only their highlights that could be potentially dangerous. Rather, it is the fact that another user may compare their own life to another user’s. For example, a user could be scrolling through a site and see another user’s highlights and begin comparing their own life to the other user’s. As a result, a user could start to develop a lower self-esteem. Their sense of self-worth may also be damaged in the process. This obsession of one’s self-image can have severe consequences such as feelings of depression or loneliness ("Social Media: Does social media have a positive impact on the world?").

In today’s century social media is the main way to communicate with people with people all over the world. It has become very popular... even more popular than a text or video message. Social media is a computer technology that facilitates the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via communities and networks. The variety of social media services that are currently available can help benefit businesses, introduce an event, or even help you find a friend, family member, or long lost soulmate. Some social sites even help you find love. However, there are many positive things that can come out social media but there are many negatives too.

Social media has conquered the internet as well advanced in the growth of opening relationships and collaborating ideas around many counseling professions. In the field of therapy, many psychotherapists expanded their ways by connection with patients through Facebook pages and other webpages that allow communication. Lately, this has also created current issues to consider and benefits for counselors. Older generations find this as a problem because it is unethical and has effects towards the boundary line between private and public information. The problem of therapists crossing boundaries through social media can be solved by two solutions: creating a specific group page on Facebook and having alternative networking accounts such as

In discussion of social media being a controversial issue, it is discussed whether it brings positive or negative outcomes on our society. Some argue that it helps stay connected with friends, while others say that social media affects our ability to interact and communicate with people face to face. Additionally, it is argued that social media helps spread news all over the world instantly, cases like missing people or updates on impacting news. However, it increases cyberbullying with the help of common and successful social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.

“Social media is changing the way we communicate and the way we are perceived, both positively and negatively. Every time you post a photo, or update your status, you are contributing to your own digital footprint and personal brand.” Although people should feel safe while using the internet, they are still capable of coming across countless and unnecessary situations. Social media can be used for a variety of things, but there are still very many pros and cons of social media.

Nick McGillivray (2015) discussed the pros and cons of social media. The positive aspects of engaging in social media are student users use social networking to discuss educational topics and are using social networking sites to talk about school assignments. Social media allows people to communicate with friends and this increased online communication strengthens those relationships. While grades did improve for light users, the grades of students who are heavy users of social media tend to suffer. Users are vulnerable to crime.

Today, we are connected to each other in more ways than ever before. Our lives are widely visible online through social media. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram are just a few of the popular social media networks being used today. These networks are utilized by billions of users and the amount of time each user spends per day online is totally astounding. The content on these networks could be anything including photos and videos of our special moments that we love to share or perhaps content and information that we would rather not be made public. This content can be viewed by our neighbors, friends, family, teachers, students, and colleagues. This is exceptionally important to remember as the things we put online for the world to see could potentially have a lasting impact. For most individuals, checking social media is the first task when waking up in the morning and the last before going to sleep at night. That being said, there are many individuals using social media at work also. Workers say there are many positives to using social media in the office. For example, nearly 80 percent of employees who log on to a social network for work-related purposes believe it is a useful tool for networking or finding new job opportunities, while 71 percent think it is useful for staying in touch with others in their industry. (Brooks) There are others who would disagree and say that social media is a distraction or perhaps a good way to start drama. Regardless, with all

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. What do these four sites have in common? They are

Social media has one of the highest influences on humans. It is obvious why; there are so many platforms from Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest just to name a few. Although for our grandparents had to write letters and wait for a reply Social media is instantaneous. The speed of which we communicate would seem like light speed for some older folks. Social media is a very entertaining and captivating pass time; that is why it is so easy to let social media consume so much of your time and focus. There are about 7 billion people on earth and there are 6.8 billion phones. Granted there are parts of the world with no cell service or phones, but a majority of the population has some sort of social media account. With something that is used by so many of course, there will be negatives and positives.

The word, “Media,” can be defined as, “the main means of mass communication.” Media has been around for hundreds of years, in one form or another. With the new technology available today, media has become more of a social platform than a way to spread information. This has resulted in the emergence of social media, the communication of people by sharing and consuming information, mostly about one’s self. Social media has also sparked a debate as to whether it benefits society, or harms it (Are Social Networking Sites Good for Our Society 1). But, there is no doubt, social media only negatively impacts the world.

Social Media is taking over. From Myspace to facebook to twitter , the internet world has found its way to become a part of people daily routine. Although to many, the thought of social media being the new reality is ludacris,our society now is revolving itself around the internet. It’s accessible to everyone but kids under 18 should be moderated on how they use Social Media. In the articles , “Growing up Tethered” by Sherry Turkle , Cass Sunstein “ How facebook makes us Dumber” and Elise Hu “Facebook makes us sadder” explains how the social media is forming the new reality.

While some fear that if humanity does not disconnect from this always-on culture that Turkle spoke of, people will become alienated from one another. According to Turkle’s theory, when people become alienated from others the isolation brings to light that people have allowed their overworked and overscheduled lives to affect how they connect with other people. Hence, people no longer have time to sit down and make a phone call. Instead, they send out a quick text, thus allowing texting to become a central form of communication (Alone Together 3). Although people are not physically shutting themselves off from one another, Wendy Leung, a journalist for The Globe and Mail and author of “Does social media bring us closer – or make us loners?” conveys a valid point. “We often live in our own bubbles, simultaneously reaching out and closing ourselves off to others through the use of technology” (Leung).

Social Media is absolutely useful tool for communication, there’s no doubt about that, but just like with any other tool, there are ways to misuse the medium. Social media’s strength and weakness lie within its popularity. With millions of user’s, some of which grew up using social media, there are going to be people who use it to their advantage, or at least try to. In the New York Times article, “Quit Social Media. Your career May Depend On It.” by Cal Newport, an idea is presented that using social media at all can potentially kill you future career.

What happened to the days when talking to someone was either face to face, or on the telephone? Today, children and teens hardly ever speak to people face to face, even when in a public setting with people that they know. This is not only present in teens, but with most age groups. In today's world, instead of talking to someone face to face, social media has come along making face to face communication less common. At the same time, social media makes it possible for people who live in different countries, such as family, able to communicate with one another anytime."Social media is a great way to connect with my friends and family back home in Florida," State U. freshman Rob Dole said.