IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activity that integrate technology social interactions and construction of words, videos, pictures and audio. Social media can connect people from different region, country or continent despite of the language and can explore new things, culture, and can interact with people without physical contact. Some of the common and widely used social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat many among others.
Media is everywhere. It is an inseparable part of every teenager life. Over the past two decades, social media have gained so much growth and fame worldwide to an extent that many researchers are now interested in learning more about these social platforms and their effects on the community.
The use of social media has both negative and positive impacts on our youths today. In this paper, I aim to bring to light the impacts of social media specifically to the youth of this generation. These impacts are both positive and negative.
POSITIVE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA :
As time is evolving, the benefits of social media platforms are considerably increasing. To entertain, to inspire, to educate, and to convince! That’s the simplest possible way to sum up the positive impact of social media upon us, our lives, and our coming generations.
- Social media had paved the way for the the business as they are promoting their products through popular social media apps. with the help of social media business persons can connect their targeted customers free of cost, all they have to take care of their energy and time.
- Social media is serving as a gateway for exchanging information. It has become a platform for different sources for youth to improve their education. The sharing option that it provides has created a thesaurus for us from which we can extract every single bit of information no matter how rare the topic is. It helps youth to reach out to the professors or future employers or perhaps collaborate with their peers.
- The increasing popularity of social sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, social networks has gained attention as the most viable communication choice for the bloggers, article writers and content creators. If you have good number of followers on your social media account, you can surely grow your business.
- Social media raises awareness in the youth regarding sensitive issues that are not discussed in many societies. It raises the consciousness of the hardships that people in different society face. It creates political and social awareness and provides the information of how to access support in case a certain situation arises.
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA :
A popular opinion of the impact of social media on children is that it does more harm than good. Here are some negative impacts of social media on children:
- More use of social media or phones is a reason for anxiety, depression, and mental health. Because you don’t play with friends, not go outdoor, don’t meet with your family, and don’t spend time with nature. Just sit at the corner of the room and use the mobile. Another reason is, teenagers mostly compare themselves with their friends on social media and perceive deficits if others are better at something which affects their life.
- As we see students are very fond of using different social gadgets, they think these are the true source of happiness and enjoyment. They constantly keep an eye on what’s new in the market. How will our country grow whose youth is not interested in studies? So, we can say that these devices are spoiling the future of our youth.
- One of the very main negative impact of social media on youth as some of the negative minded people uses it for bullying someone. It increases the risk of confusion, sex abuse, and threats that can result in deep emotional wounds. Misinformation or false advertising is another negative impact of social media on youth.
- Most of the youngsters face the issues of security of data. Hacking and Cyberbullying are the top most dangerous weapons for the youngsters that can cause huge harm to their mental health and well as personal details. Strong electronic aggression can happen to even a 10-year-old.
Because of the urbanization and the invention of highly advanced technologies, young people, especially children and teenagers are getting worse day by day. They are so into the social media that they get almost lost into the virtual world and didn't want to know anything about the real world and sometimes the young youth cant find difference between the reel and real life. Students are unaware of the privacy policies and usually allows everything wherever they are asked to, this will create leakage of private messages and cyber bullying takes place where the personal things are got publicized.
So to avoid these problem and to get rid of the addiction of the social media, parents and teachers should give proper guidance regarding the social media and tell them about the privacy policies and it should be explain in detailed manner so that the students can use the social media in a constructive manner and develop skill and explore things that are necessary to them. Social Media is definitely a boon for all of us if we utilize it for all the productive purposes like entertainment, education etc.
