The Pros And Cons Of Social Media

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.

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?").

Social media is a controversy topic in today’s society. Some people think that social media destroys human interaction and real life human relationships. While others think that social media is a bless to humanity. Social media makes human interaction much more convenient and much faster than real life human interaction, it makes globalization a reality, it gives a chance for introverted people to express themselves, and it also benefit develop international relationships whether its business or social.

Social media is used as a form of communication that many people use to communicate with friends and family. “Any website that invites you to interact with the site and with other visitors falls into the definition of social media” (Nations). However, there are many pros and cons to the new communication system.

Online is where teens can post their problems and try to get advice. Once somebody puts information on a networking site, there is no erasing it, it is permanently on there and can be shared with the whole electronic world. Greenfield and Yan in their studies claim that social networking sites have done a great deal in persuading teens to partake in adult and illegal activities and use sites as a source where teens can spill their lives out. Teens don't realize what kind of consequences a simple post of alcohol or drug related can have on them in the future. Just because you are hiding behind a wall of social media doesn't mean that you still can't get in trouble with the law. Teens are being overwhelmed with the general public drowning them in material they are not quite mature enough to deal with yet. Networking sites are filled with risky behavior and, “ 81% referenced alcohol, and 27% discussed illegal drugs” (Greenfield). These statistics are very high considering the amount of information is shared on a certain social media site every day. Developers are trying to come up with a filter or function that will be imvemted into every social media website where they can advertise alcohol or drug related content to minors and if they are not twenty one years of age, then the advertisement will be blocked. Anything that is related to being older will soon be blocked. This is for the safety of the kids. Alcohol related issues along with drugs can damage a teens self esteem

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.

In today's world it's like we are all in a network state. Social media can play a major role in our lives through the way we portray one another. Not many people know this but many companies look through your social media before hiring you. I would want to know my employer personally before hiring them because at some point people on social media post about drug abuse and provocative images and comments. Your social media reflects off of you as of who you are as an intellectual person and not everyone on social media portrays themselves as a well spoken person. Colleges and universities are now going more indepth into looking at your resume. Why look at your resume when you are taught to only brag and talk about your positives on there when on social media you share your true thoughts and feelings. Although social media may have bad impacts on student lives there are some pros, for example for students the key to success is studying and most college students do their studying online.

Do you have a social media account? I do, and I use to be very involved with it as well. I also posted pictures of myself, family, friends, what I was doing that night or where I was. In reality, I didn’t think much of the account at all, but just a means to show myself to everyone whom I was friends with, which I have barely talked to before and during that time, what I was doing. I didn’t realize how much I was showing the world who I am, who are my family members, where I live and almost everything else. For me, social media use to be my life until finding out how my privacy was exposed to the public, and it was frightening but, there are some advantages and disadvantages of having a social media account.

Social media is everywhere, you see it on Youtube videos, food products, television commercials, or stores persuading you to, “Follow us on Instagram.” or “Like us on Facebook.” Today, it has become increasingly common for kids to own smartphones at a young age and have Instagram accounts. Wherever you go, you see kids checking their phones and seeing if the picture they posted has enough likes. Many people argue whether social media can be a positive influence on kids or teens. The cons of social media greatly outweigh the pros of having social media and are having a great impact on our identities.

In today’s world, social media is what connects people to each other. Whether talking to an old friend, discussing work with fellow employees, or meeting total strangers social media is the default platform. Many older people say that social media is unhealthy for society because it apparently creates less empathetic people, provides an avenue for bullying, and provides kids with less contact with people face to face. While those arguments are valid, there are flaws in how they are interpreted and when compared to the positives, can’t stand too well. A few of the positives of social media include people being able to communicate to people from all over the planet, free entertainment that can showcase new and upcoming talented people, and a way for someone to express himself to more people than he ever could without social media. Now, let us look at the arguments for why social media is bad in a little more detail.

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

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, text messaging, and emailing, are just a few ways that people communicate through technology daily. Social media has made it simple for individuals to converse with each other instantaneously no matter where they are. While social media can be a good tool, it also has its cons. With the increase in social media popularity over the past century, social interaction has been negatively affected.

Throughout the past couple of years the use of social media has kept climbing. Technology is a main factor in this. Technology is changing every single day. People want the newest and fastest phone, tablet, television, or computer. “Technology causes people to use less energy and to get what they want right away. Technology is changing the way that we live our lives. With the advances in technology we are enabled to complete more tasks in less time, and often times, with

Too many parents these days think that social media can be a weapon for kids to hide in. People just don’t know what social media can do for their kid between boosting self-confidence and helping them build real friendships. Just because they spend who knows how long looking at a screen during the day, it doesn’t mean they’re not socializing with friends they already know, and it doesn’t mean they are talking with random people, though that does happen, it’s not all that bad.

Like it is stated above, social media can be used for communication. The new technologies have made it easier to connect the world in just a glimpse. With a network like WhatsApp or Facebook, a person here in the United States is able to talk and see at the same time his friends and family members who are in different part of the world. Social media are another way to make friends too. For instance, if a person is too shy or just too quiet to speak, social media can help that person have friends and communicate with them. In other words, technology and social media work together to link the world.