VOICES Pros & Cons of Social Media
Whether you are walking across campus or enjoying dinner in a fancy restaurant, it seems most people are hyper focused on their phones. More than 75 percent of online adults use a social networking site, according to the Pew Research Center. That percentage has gone up exponentially since the first study in early 2005. There are pros and cons to social media. It all depends how it is used.
As a pro, it is great for keeping up with the latest news and friends, giving friends updates on what it is that you’re doing, networking, or just using it for fun. It gives us the chance to communicate with others worldwide. Making us closer to other parts of the world. We can contact anyone around the world at any time with just a few keystrokes whether by phone or computer. Social media allows us to share elements of our life from what we enjoy to photos of family, friends or ourselves. It basically is allowing you to be apart of others world and lives even though distance may be the thing keeping you guys apart.
As a con, are things like spam, fake accounts, cyber-bullying, and inappropriate comments said about other people. Social media has also allowed people to hide behind their screens and limits our social interaction face to face. But people will easily socialize behind a phone or computer screen. It is a huge distraction in today’s world. Even when people are driving, people be so obsessed with being on social media that they will be on it while driving which distracts them from the road and the simple fact that they are driving. This can lead to car accidents, which can end in severe injury or death. The worst of social media is the simple fact that people cyber-bully.
Cyber-bullying is the main reason people hate social media. When people are cyber-bullied it causes those who are victim to not even want to get on social media because they are scared that someone will be talking bad upon them. What sucks the most is that it can never really be caught cause they can make a fake page via twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. They will make the page anonymous so that the victim will never be able to trace their steps in catching them. Cyber-bullying on social media can get so serious to the point it can cause someone to commit suicide. Another con is the term “Catfish” which occurs on social network sites. These can be anonymous people, child molesters, or childish people who make a fake account of someone. These are all horrible things to deal with when it comes to social media. Especially the simple fact that child molesters make fake pages to try and lure in little kids at a young age. Things like this make parents very cautious of allowing their children to even use social media.
More than 10 years ago people had to wait to hear from each other rather than being able to go on social media and talk to one another. I personally feel as though social media has had a more negative affect on the world today. Despite It giving you so many different avenues to get in touch with society. Social media is sadly taking over our lives. When you go out in public all you see is peoples eyes glued to their phones. It allows you to have the feeling of being social without having to go out and socialize. Plus you get the feeling of having friends on social media without actually having to put any work towards the relationship. This is bad in my eyes because people don’t even go out of their way to actually socialize face to face.
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