It is one of the most powerful
tools of communication in the developing countries, as well as in the developed
countries. It can aid in promoting the right things at a right point of time, or
can make use of any situation to create disturbance around the people or in the
society. Media helps to provide a strong message to the world about what is
right or wrong.Media is present all around us. For example, when we watch the
Television; listen to the radio; read books, newspapers, magazines, journals;
etc.
The world is making a steady progress towards a better future everyday. But
still, people are bound by the social problems and issues directly or indirectly
are “ effected by the people ,of the people and for the people.”
By now, we are all aware that social media has had a tremendous impact on our
society, culture and in business, on the world-at-large. Social media websites
are some of the most popular haunts on the Internet. They have revolutionized
the way people communicate and socialize on the Web.
However, aside from seeing your friends’ new baby on Facebook, or reading about
Justin Bieber’s latest brush with the law on Twitter, what are some of the real
impacts, both positive and negative, that social media has had on our society?
Here is a closer look at the effect of social media on politics, business,
socialization as well as some of the negative effects such as cyber bullying and
privacy.
Knowledge is power. We all recognize this saying but few understand the
empowering role social media has played. Through social media, anyone online is
empowered by an unrestricted flow of information to add to their knowledge bank.
In today's world, it is undeniable that social media plays an important role in
impacting our culture, our economy and our overall view of the world. Social
media is a new forum that brings people to exchange idea, connect with, relate
to, and mobilize for a cause, seek advice, and offer guidance. Social media has
removed communication barriers and created decentralized communication channel
and open the door for all to have a voice and participate in a democratic
fashion including people in repressive countries. This media outlet accommodates
a wide variety spontaneous, formal, informal, scholarly and unscholarly writings
to flourish. It enables common interest based groups such as students to work in
a collaborative group projects outside of their class. It fosters creativity and
collaboration with a wide range of commentators on a number of issues such as
education, the economy, politics, race, health, relationships…etc. Although it
has brought about many benefits, allowing us to easily connect with friends and
family around the globe, allowing us to break down international borders and
cultural barriers, social media has come at a price. social media has a negative
impact on our lives because the combination of isolation and global reach has
eroded our culture. Social media is robbing us of trust and comfort we once
placed in one another, replacing the human fellowship, physical and emotional
support we once drew from each other with virtual connection. It robs us from
self control and from the ability to think independently and instead makes us
gullible to join any group that posts perverse messages that tickle our ear and
amuse our senses without evaluating the consequences. Ironically, social media
is in effect turning us into one of the most antisocial generations, yet. We
prefer texting to phone conversations, online chat to a face-to-face meeting,
and many have replaced human interaction with convenient platforms such as
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Jonathan Safran Foer in his article, “How Not
to Be Alone”, said “Each step forward in social media has made it easier, just a
little, to avoid the emotional work of being present, to convey information
rather than humanity.” With each passing day, these words ring truer and truer.
It is the objective of this article to present evidence from several researches
that were done by many scholars in different environment that distinctly
demonstrates the negative impact of social media in three main categories.
First, social media fosters a false sense of online “connections” and
superficial friendships leading to emotional and psychological problems. The
Second harm of social media is that it can become easily addictive taking away
family and personal time as well as diminish interpersonal skills, leading to
antisocial behavior. Lastly, social media has become a tool for criminals,
predators and terrorists enabling them to commit illegal acts. And the third
analysis will consist of showing the link between the psychological problems
caused by social media and criminal activities committed.
Although I will be focusing primarily on the harms of social media, it is
important to recognize that there are numerous positive aspects associated with
social media usage. Social media offers the ability to form a group for
like-minded people to work together. Social networking sites help students do
significantly better in school, primarily through utilizing connecting with each
other on school assignments and collaborative group projects outside of class.
For instance, Facebook allows students to gather outside of class to exchange
ideas about assignments. Some schools successfully use blogs as teaching tools,
which has the benefit of reinforcing skills in English, written expression, and
creativity. Social media is also an excellent marketing tool. Since there is an
exponential user growth in social media, companies use this platform for product
marketing through advertising, where they promote brands, discuss features, and
create awareness. In fact, advertising is the main scheme social media companies
use to generate revenue stream to sustain their operation. In addition, social
networking sites are used to spread information faster than traditional news
outlets or any other form of media. Everyday examples of social media sharing
are seen in the emergency amber alerts we receive on our smart phones reporting
the missing persons’ photos we see on social media sites. The amazing fact is
this news comes directly from others who have experienced it firsthand. Examples
of rapid social media sharing occurred in events such as the movie theater
shooting in Aurora, Colorado in 2012, the Boston marathon bombing in 2013, and
the death of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe a few weeks ago. In all these stories,
social media caught word quicker than local news outlets and created awareness
giving a voice to the victims of these tragedies. The Boston marathon bombing in
particular is a good example of social media rapidly sharing information. After
the event, the FBI released photos of the two suspects and the photos
immediately went viral on Twitter and Facebook,. Social media was used to form
groups in which people posted photos and information pertaining to the case.
This phenomenon is called crowd sourcing or crowd sleuthing and eventually the
whole country was on the watch; there was nowhere the perpetrators could hide.
Before the week was up, one suspect was found dead while the other accomplice
was placed in custody. These are few of the many benefits of social media. One
of the most popular social media sites, Facebook, has 1.4 billion users around
the world, nearly a fifth of the world's population, thus helping us to better
understand, learn and share information instantaneously making the world look
like a small village. However despite these benefits, social media has brought
about detrimental side effects to society. Throughout this article, I’m going to
discuss three main points, which I came across during my research: social media
and psychological issues, social media as a tool for criminals and lastly the
link between social media and criminal activities. .
To summarize, despite the positive benefit of rapid information sharing, social
media enables people to create false identities and superficial connections,
causes depression and is a primary recruiting tool of criminals and terrorists.
Finally, since social media is a relatively new phenomenon and the impact
studies done are also reasonably new, I feel as though the advantages of social
media are emphasized quite often, as opposed to its negative aspects which are
very rarely discussed. This trend must change and I hope my presentation can
help galvanize it by better informing users on both sides of the argument.
Although change is good, necessary, and inevitable, it always comes at a price.
Discounting positive impacts does not hurt in the long run, nearly as much as
negative ones do. In this presentation, I have explored the harms posed by this
uncensored and unmonitored new medium of communication which exposes us all to a
gradual breakdown of social cohesion and the destruction of our traditional
value systems, unless we take responsibility to ensure that our understanding of
social media and its impacts are constantly evaluated with what's happening in
the world.
With technological advancements, such as the Internet, have made it possible to
bring the various forms of electronic media to our workplaces and homes at the
click of a button. To conclude, the influence of mass media is undeniable as it
can make or break the belief of the people, or start a movement for a right
cause.
I feel that even though media has appeared as a prominent innovation but
individual aspirations can effect in the formation of ideas and opinions.