Essay On Social Media: Definition, Positive And Negative Effects

Positive effects of Social Media

Write On Essay Social Media Refers To The Interactive?

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Social media refers to the interactive computer-meditated technologies that facilitate the creation and the sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression which exists via the communities and the networks throughout. The wide variety of stand-alone and built-in services related to the field of social media makes introduction of the challenges of the definition, however this field has some of the common features which are,

  • Social media are interactive Web 2.0 internet-based applications.
  • Content generated by user, such as text posts or comments, digital made photos or videos and data generated through all online interactions is the lifeblood of the social media field.
  • Users create service-specific profiles for the particular website or application that are generally designed to maintain the specific social media organizations.
  • Social media provides facilitations for the development of online social networks by connecting an individual’s profile with the profiles of other individuals or groups.

Users usually access social media services through web-based technologies with the help of desktops and laptops, or through downloading of other services that offer social media functionality to their mobile devices. As users engage with all of these electronic services, they create highly interactive platforms through which individuals, communities and organizations can bring in sharing, co-creation, discuss, participate and modify user-generated content or maybe pre-made content which was posted online.

Networks formed through social media can have a drastic change in the way the groups of people communicate or interact between them. They introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communicate between organizations, communities or maybe individuals. These changes have the prime focus of the emerging fields of technoself studies. The social media share a slight difference with the paper-based media and traditional electronic media such as that of TV broadcasting, Radio broadcasting in many ways including quality, reach, frequency, interactivity, usability, immediacy and performance. Social media outlets operates under the theory of mono-logic transmission model such as that of newspaper which is delivered to numerous of subscribers or radio station which broadcasts the same programs to the whole city. Some of the most popular social media websites having an audience over a count of 100 million, such as that of Facebook, YouTube, WeChat, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, LINE, Snapchat, Pinterest, etc.

Observers have noted a variety of positive and negative impacts upon the social media utilizes. Social media can provide with a helping hand to improve the sense of an individual regarding the connectedness with the real or the online communities or the group to initiate and carry on with an effective communication tool for the corporations, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, political parties and the governments.

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While the negative effects of the social media contain a more emphasis, however the positive behaviors make the social media an invaluable tool for the young people if used in a correct manner. Below are the few positive aspects of the possessing a social media profile,

  • While having a conversation with the teens on a one-to-one basis, the thought process is considered to ideal since and when such a scenario takes place where the amount of audience is much more, the knowledge transfer takes place on a broader level. For example, sharing of knowledge on Youtube allows the user to reach out to a broader audience quickly rising to millions of views and in turn express their opinions or views to a large number or audience.
  • A number of social media sites such as that of Facebook and Twitter are being used to create voices for many of the voiceless. On Facebook, for example various groups such as “Disability is not inability” are being promoted to bring a change within the society for the more consciousness of how to treat the people having disabilities.
  • Social media platforms mostly is considerate about the active participation of users and them sharing different contents from their profile. This instigates the young people to have a thinking outside the box and come up with innovative ideas regarding the content that they would share.
  • It has been seen that, the young people are much more confident and free in the various existing social platforms similar to the confidence they need to carry in their workplace, later in life. This is a part of the outcome having an endless exposure from being online and having conversations with different people some of whom might turn out to be potential employers. These activities enable the young people to have acquired skills which enable them to evaluate and interpret different kinds of situations in life and prepare themselves mentally in situations later on in life.
  • Getting engaged on social media platforms have been proved to be a new adventure for the young and potential people. It is similar to the feeling of exploring a new place to gather much needed skills when needed. Young people get to learn how to mold their character to have a more confident and an independent order to be heard or have positive online presence. This eventually has a positive effect on the lives of these young people.

Negative effects of Social Media

The most dominant effects of social media platforms are mainly negative, which are listed below,

  • Spending long hours on the Social Media platforms can lead to serious effects on the mood of that particular individual. In fact, the person can lead to the possession of poor mental health, along with the inclusion of symptoms related to anxiety and depression. It is always recommended by the researchers and the doctors that the amount of time spent on the social media platforms should amount up to a certain half hour per day. So, it is always on a moderate rate along with the other activities which should have a greater importance and significance in the life of that individual.
  • Before the existence of social media, bullying was done on a face to face basis. However, nowadays someone can be bullied even through an online portal. Everyone is aware of the definition of Cyberbullying and what can be done to a person for the suffering of the individual. Since done through an online portal, the identity of the bully is completely hidden from the individual attacked. While the social media platforms provide ease in the process of making new friends, it also has the provision for gaining the attention of predators online. All of these cases related to cyberbullying often lead to the victims having suicidal thoughts. It is a rare case, but fascinating that the cyberbullies even attack the adults apart from the children using the social media.
  • Fear of Missing Out is a phenomenon that had come into the field of social media with the rise of Facebook. This is considered to be one of the major negative effects of the social media age. FOMO basically refers to the form of anxiety which a person gets when the one feels of being missed out of positive experiences and emotions that someone else might be getting to experience. This disorder is constantly aggregated by the engagement in the social media. The more a person goes through the social media, the more that person sees someone else having fun and hence, feels the anxiety of missing out on that fun.
  • Social media often tends to provide a person with unrealistic expectations in case of any life event or maybe a friendship. The networks which mostly play a role in this is Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. These are the social media platforms that generally lack the authenticity online. One of the best possible way out from this is that every single individual on social media should stop lying.
  • Having a look at the social media accounts of celebrities, the only thing which comes under scrutiny is the expensive clothes they wear and the perfect toned bodies which they possess. In recent times, body image plays a major role for both the genders. This is due to the reason that, having a look at people possessing perfectness in accordance to their bodies or the lifestyle which they follow. Every single person in today’s world is conscious about the way they look and, how different they look from the people in those pictures. Hence, having such thoughts in mind may lead a person to get to any extent to experience such a lifestyle even if the way is not correct or may lead to the consumption of numerous drugs in order to possess toned bodies or buffed up physique. As a result, leading to disorders and a fatal death in that case

Due to the increase rate of anxiety and depression, devoting too much of time to the social media may lead to the poor sleep patterns for an individual. Numerous researches have shown that, too much use of the social media have led to a negative effect on the sleep quality of the person. Avoidance of significant use of social media may be the only way out of this invalid sleeping pattern which the person possesses.