The Good and the Bad Sides of Social Media
The most frequently asked question is whether social media has its good and bad sides. There are always two sides to every notion, and it depends on everyone’s perspective on how they perceive it. This same way of perceiving things goes for social media. A majority of people admire it as a great invention, while others seem to think of it negatively in society. This essay compiles some of the good and bad sides of social media, as expressed by people.
The Good Side of Social Media
Social media has lately become one of the most helpful tools for growing friendships and relations. This great invention was started as a platform for connecting with friends easily and conveniently. Many people might have found their old friends from back in the days that were out of touch on social media platforms. Social media networks have also provided people with the opportunity to connect and build healthy relationships with friends; they are unable to meet personally (Ukpong, 2019). This helps them have ideas about their lives and take input on events happening around them. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Social media is critical in reducing communication barriers. With active social media networks, people can communicate their thoughts and views over a variety of issues with a larger number of audiences. The important sharing feature on several social media networks helps users pass their opinions about topics to several people across the world. Social media also gives the option of creating groups with other users who are like-minded and of a social setting and share relevant news with them. This also makes it possible to ask their views and inputs on the shared news topics. This means that through social media, there are a variety of options for us to communicate our opinions with others.
Through social media, people can explore several business opportunities and prospects. Social networks like Twitter and Facebook have become crucial parts of many business-minded people. People have not noticed this, but as soon as we power on our devices to access the internet, we also sub-consciously log to our favorite social media sites to check updated news on business prospects. Various businesses have embraced the value of social media and are making good use of it to promote their products. Several customized applications have been created on social media platforms to promote products or brands. Business people are also shifting more towards social marketing as it is cost-effective, and it gives products and brands a considerable consumer audience.
Social media has also proved to be a critical educational tool in the contemporary world. If used relevantly and effectively, social networks can provide adequate opportunities for individual and active learning. Through active engagement, students can find immense opportunities of acquiring knowledge and collecting a variety of information regarding a discipline they are passionate about. For effective and active learning, students can follow relevant channels, personalities, and pages on social media. However, they should ensure that the pages and channels provide authentic and useful educational information. Social media connection also provides learners with the opportunity of engaging like-minded people irrespective of time and space (Siddiqui and Singh, 2016). This facilitates the provision of a platform to exchange ideas and learn new things. Additionally, teachers and academicians across learning institutions use social media as an important medium for learning.
Active use of social media networks helps learners explore the possibility of being trainers or teachers. Currently, learners utilize platforms like Facebook and YouTube to come up with their pages and channels through which they train people. These kinds of training may take place in several domains, like science, music, dance, and finance. Instagram is also being used by learners to showcase talents related to photography (Friesen and Lowe, 2012).
The Bad Side of Social Media
Social media leads to addiction. Several studies have indicated that excessive use of social media can actually cause addiction to subscribers. During significant hours of their days, users may have the feeling of posting on their timelines or checking out pages as they think that it is a crucial part of their lives.
Excessive use of social media also leads to isolation. Studies have revealed that subscribers who extremely use social media have a reduced level of interaction. As a result of social media interaction with other online subscribers, people have isolated their normal lives using online identities. Face to face meetings and communication has been significantly reduced, and many social media users have lost the need to engage one on one.
The use of social media in businesses greatly affects productivity. In the contemporary world, businesses have resorted to the use of social media to access their clients. This has proved to be a significant disturbance to personnel, which may show interest in what their acquaintances are sharing online than in their assigned tasks. Studies from wired.com reveal that social networking damages organizational productivity by 2%. Research from Nucleus.com also shows that Facebook cuts down office productivity by 1.5%, and it also claims that British businesses lose an approximately 2.2 billion annually due to social media distraction (Wright et al.,. 2010). New technological advancements have been availed to block social media usage ate workplaces, but their effectiveness is still questionable (Schultz et al., 2015).
Lastly, social media has been found to have serious mental health among teenagers. Their feeds at times lead to an endless stream of trauma. Studies have shown that a single negative post may result in a chain of undesirable comments that might cause stress. Cyberbullying, as well as having a distorted perception of people, are some of the factors that lead to traumatization. Also, studies have established a connection between excessive use of social media and lack of sleep (Krishna, 2018).
In conclusion, this essay has mentioned a few positive and negative points about the use of social media. However, it does not have a stand on whether social media is a good or a bad thing. The essay expresses views from both perspectives. People will remain wary despite these positive and negative points regarding social media. However, several people will admire it as a great invention, while others will not.
References
Friesen, N., & Lowe, S. (2012). The questionable promise of social media for education: Connective learning and the commercial imperative. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 28(3), 183-194.
Krishna, K. (2018). The good and bad of social media. Retrieved from https://www.deccanherald.com/supplements/dh-education/good-and-bad-social-media-683498.html
Schultz, M. D., Koehler, J. W., Philippe, T. W., & Coronel, R. S. (2015). Managing the effects of social media in organizations. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 80(2), 42.
Siddiqui, S., & Singh, T. (2016). Social media its impact with positive and negative aspects. International Journal of Computer Applications Technology and Research, 5(2), 71-75.
Ukpong, E. (2019). The Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media. GRIN Verlag.
Wright, E., Khanfar, N. M., Harrington, C., & Kizer, L. E. (2010). The lasting effects of social media trends on advertising. Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER), 8(11).