Are Social Media Really Dangerous? - Paper Example

Social media refers to the digital applications and websites or any internet tool that allow their users to connect and share their information efficiently, quickly, and in real-time (Greenwood & Duggan 2016). Nowadays, people access social media platforms through smartphone applications like before through computers (Nadaraja, & Yazdanifard, 2013). These platforms have given their users freedom and the ability to share events, opinions, and even photos. This has transformed the way of living for many people around the world. Although social media has millions of users who enjoy using it daily, people should avoid spending too much time on social media because they might receive negative feedback, suffer from anxiety and depression, and cyberbullying.

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Users of social media can get negative feedback on their posts or maybe cyberbullied. One has to invest for a long time and wait for the result, which there isn't an assurance of getting the excellent result as intended. For instance, those who market their businesses on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have to keep on advertising their businesses for an extended period and fail to get the excellent result they intended (George, & Kraschnewski, 2013). Politicians have to keep campaigning on these platforms for an extended period and even invest more of the resource and wait up to the voting day and fail to win the elections. Since these platforms users post their best experiences, they also post their dislikes and poor experience. In this manner, one uses the platform to tarnish and expose its low services and experiences. In return, the owner of a business who had invested in marketing it and got those negative comments nobody wishes to come to buy goods or services from that business. This is the beginning of the business's downfall. Also, having a poor relationship with someone and decides to create a reputation and expose your weaknesses to the public may use these platforms. For instance, one tags your or your business and writes all the negative issues about you. Businesses have lost their goods and services in these platforms as some are scammers and fraudsters and use these platforms to pretend to be sales and marketing agencies and end up stealing from people's businesses. We can clearly say that these platforms have negative impacts and returns on our daily lives and businesses.

Social media is dangerous to its users as they suffer from anxiety, and also time-consuming. Children who are exposed to these platforms are at a high risk of low morals from them. People post whatever they want on these platforms, and there is no limit to who can see the materials. For instance, pornographic materials are not aren't suitable for our children. Once the children access these materials, they end up trying them out of curiosity, which has led to teenage pregnancies. These early pregnancy has led to teenagers dropping out of school to take care of the young ones. The young parent faces so many challenges in bringing up the babies, forcing their parent to feed even the young family. Also, it corrupts children's morals and even adults as there is a rise in defilement cases. Once a person is defiled loses self-esteem, which brings depression and causes one to commit suicide (Brunskill, 2014). These platforms are time-consuming to the users as most users spend a lot of time posting their staff and waiting to respond. Most of these platforms are addictive, and one can spend a whole on social media without doing constructive work but only viewing what others are posting. The information one is getting may not useful to his/her daily life, but one doesn't feel like leaving the site. In families, you find that parents who are so engaged in social media are left behind their chores unattended to or even fail to pay attention to their partners or children, and this may cause many families to end up breaking. Some use the platform to steal from others. There are so many fraudsters in these platforms where some even hack your account and use it to steal from others or even destroy your reputation to the public by creating false information about you. With this evidence, it correct to say that social media is harmful to children and time-consuming.

One could easily believe that social media is so dangerous and forget the tremendous changes globally. These platforms are among the most excellent source of information. Some people rely on social media as a source of information and events happening or about to happen. It easy for the users to get information about people with who they lost contact for a long time and reunite once more, and also new ideas are always available on these platforms. Since there is freedom in these platforms, one should always mind what they pick to watch or read. When one needs to get ideas on starting your own business, you will always get the information of those who did it before and their challenges. These ideas help one plan and avoiding the mistakes of those who did it before. These platforms are tools for connecting people and their friends. For instance, one may connect with their old secondary and primary friends through Facebook despite their current places. Social media is a source of income for some users since you have to pay to publish your website's content. These platforms have a lot of benefits to students and teachers. One can learn from the experts and professionals in your field, thus improving your understanding of the course. Digital marketing is also done through social media platforms, and even now, there is selling and buying of goods and services through these platforms (Nadaraja, & Yazdanifard, 2013). Businesses are now marketing their products on social platforms, and it reaches many of their customers, which has led to the massive growth of businesses and increased sales. As most of these platforms are free to join and share information, one should control and limit time to use them to avoid being enslaved and forget other things. Despite the dangers posed by social media, it is evident that these platforms are of fair use and benefit their users too much and control their usage.

References

Brunskill, D. (2014). The Dangers of Social Media for the Psyche. Journal of Current Issues in Media & Telecommunications, 6(4).

George, D. R., Rovniak, L. S., & Kraschnewski, J. L. (2013). Dangers and opportunities for social media in medicine. Clinical obstetrics and gynecology, 56(3).

Greenwood, S., Perrin, A., & Duggan, M. (2016). Social media update 2016. Pew Research Center, 11(2), 1-18.

Nadaraja, R., & Yazdanifard, R. (2013). Social media marketing: advantages and disadvantages. Center of Southern New Hempshire University, 1-10.

Roebuck, D., Siha, S., & Bell, R. L. (2013). Faculty usage of social media and mobile devices: Analysis of advantages and concerns. Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objects, 9, 171.