Written By: Praghna H. Palaparthy
There are multiple opinions on social media. To people, it is a common idea to discuss. To have a proper opinion about social media, we should know the proper definition of the topic. Social media is any digital tool that allows people to share content and communicate. Personally, I can't pick an opinion on social media because of how it can help and corrupt our generation.
To begin positively, I am going to state the pros of social media. Using social media would let us interact with distanced people, which can be useful when working from home, distance-learning, or communicating with friends. On most online social apps, there is an ability to make new friends. Making friends online can reduce loneliness in society. Social media sites help students to get an online education or improve their studies. Education is extremely important, free educator sites like Khan Academy help students in studies. Sites like RSM improve IQs of students of all ages.
Social media helps in sending and receiving news much faster. Rather than having someone deliver newspapers, people can go online and easily read the news. It is easy to remember to check the News because most apps send reminders to our phones. Some apps can read News to us.
People without jobs have many available options in networking. Social media creates multiple jobs and helps many rise from poverty. It also helps business owners sell, market, and advertise their businesses. Many businesses start from social media. Social encouragement apps, like YouTube, are easy jobs that pay highly. We all like to relax for a while. Media provides many apps that entertain us in different ways. Apps like YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Tik Tok, etc. engage us in watching or reading more. In most appealing apps, there is a capability to create videos, or blogs, articles, short films, and more.
During these current circumstances (COVID-19 pandemic), social media helps make many daily things easy to be done online, like schooling, working, shopping, and so on. Social media is a very valued pro in this situation.
There are many cons to social media. Activists even protest against social media for various reasons. One of the most popular reasons is it is very addicting. Thousands of apps and games can be downloaded for free, and likely those apps are addicting. In 2020, Americans use around 115-160 minutes of social media per day! Something we can do to reduce this addiction is deleting or decreasing the amount of time we use an app.
Another con for social media is that it can develop insecurities. There are so many pictures of people or things on the internet that may seem perfect. This can cause people to feel insecure about themselves. The internet is also a popular place for bullying. It is much easier to make fun of people online. Around 36.5 percent of people have been cyberbullied before, and 87 percent of the world have seen cyberbullying occur. Cyberbullying leads to depression, which is very serious.
Our privacy isn't safe. If you are an introverted, social media is not for you. Many apps have been sued or banned because of this problem. Due to social media, Cybercrimes are increasing. People are able to hack into our information and steal or use our identity. There is a possibility for our Data to be stored within the app even if it was deleted. For instance, if you delete a picture that picture is still stored in our devices or apps.
After reading this, I would prefer to think that social media is a good thing for society, even though it is hard to pick between pros and cons. It is helpful in educational matters, creating jobs, and using networking to help us communicate with people around the world.
Works Cited:
Admin. “What Achievers Read.” SUCCESS, 5 Aug. 2020, www.success.com/.
The Balance Small Business, The Balance Small Business, 18 Apr. 2018, www.thebalancesmb.com/.
“Digital Marketing That Drives Results ™.” SEO Company | Digital Marketing Agency That Drives Results, www.webfx.com/.
“Morning Routine: Good Habits.” Develop Good Habits, www.developgoodhabits.com/.
“Pros & Cons - ProCon.org.” Social Networking, 2 July 2020, socialnetworking.procon.org/.
“Tech News, Reviews, Help & How-Tos.” Lifewire, Lifewire, 23 Mar. 2020, www.lifewire.com/.
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