The Negative and Positive Sides of Social Media Argumentative Essay Example

📌Category: Media, Social Issues
📌Words: 1565
📌Pages: 6
📌Published: 04 July 2020

This is the very essence of the topic that we are about to discuss. Through social media we have expanded our business, got dream jobs but shrunk our hearts and minds, lost empathy also become indifferent towards others. We have met new people but abandoned our old associates; we have experienced new cultures but got disconnected with our own culture. We like to spend hours in Facebook rather than spend few moments with our family and friends. We don’t have time to read books anymore but we always have plenty of time to read all the stupid comments made by the stupid people who would like to teach Virat kohli how to play a perfect square drive or lecture our honourable foreign minister about be the flaws in the foreign policy of our country. We eager to dive deep in the shallow water of social media and but reluctant to touch the water of the deep ocean of social life. We have become immensely popular in the world of social media and at the same time become terribly obscure in the real world. We have built a house in the world of social media and shed away our cosy little home in real world. We are awkward socially and feel convenient in social media. We have forgotten to be social and we are busy to do social.

We are living in a time which is totally influenced and revolutionised by the advent of social networking which connects the people of Gabon with the people of Germany, Ghana with china, India with Iceland, usa with uae . And people of all the countries benefited socially, economically and culturally. 

We are all aware of this fact but we also ignore the truth that social media is a NECESSARY EVIL. It is Evil as it has seriously affected our society, and as it is at the same time also NECESSARY, it must have something Good in it then. So without further ado, let’s dissect social media and examine the advantages and disadvantages, it carries inside.

A new dimension of expanding business, generate more revenue, create more jobs has opened recently when people sell, buy and or promotes goods, search jobs or suitable candidates for their organisations in social media sites. Marketers have started to campaign for the products on social sites. Business ads have started popping up in Facebook. Now LinkedIn become significantly popular and trusted destination for entrepreneur, employers and job seekers.

Advantages of Social Media for the Society

1:- Connectivity – The first and main advantage of the social media is connectivity. People from anywhere can connect with anyone. Regardless of the location and religion. The beauty of social media is that you can connect with anyone to learn and share your thoughts. Govt of India now uses social media to get connected with the furthest corner of our country, so that a person who is sitting at a remote town adjacent of our country’s border comes to know about the benefits which he/she is eligible of, provided by the government. Government has also started various awareness programmes against the social evils through social media.

2:- Education – Social media has a lot of benefits for the students and teachers. It is very easy to educate from others who are experts and professionals via the social media. You can follow anyone to learn from him/her and enhance your knowledge about any field. Regardless of your location and education background you can educate yourself, without paying for it.

3:- Information and Updates – The main advantage of the social media is that you update yourself from the latest happenings around in the world. Most of the time, Television and print media these days are biased and does not convey the true message. With the help of social media you can get the facts and true information by doing some research.

4:- Promotion – Whether you have an offline business or online, you can promote your business to the largest audience. The whole world is open for you, and can promote to them. This makes the businesses profitable and less expensive, because most of the expenses made over a business are for advertising and promotion. This can be decreased by constantly and regularly involving on the social media to connect with the right audience.

5:- Noble Cause – Social media can also be used for the noble causes. For example, to promote an NGO, social welfare activities and donations for the needy people. People are using social media for donation for needy people and it can be a quick way to help such people.

6:- Awareness – Social media also create awareness and innovate the way people live. It is the social media which have helped people discover new and innovative stuffs that can enhance personal lives. From farmers to teachers, students to lawyers every individual of the society can benefit from the social media and its awareness factor.

Now let’s talk about the Disadvantages, as we have mentioned earlier social media has both good and bad in it, so we have to discuss the dark side of social media too.

Disadvantages of Social Media for the Society

1:- Cyberbullying and cause of deaths – According to a recent study most of the children have become victims of the cyberbulling over the past. Since anyone can create a fake account and do anything without being traced, it has become quite easy for anyone to bully on the Internet. Threats, intimidation messages and rumours can be sent to the masses to create discomfort and chaos in the society.  We have seen how online games caused deaths of teenagers few years back. A study showed while playing one of these games that they were provoked, threatened almost pushed towards their untimely and unfortunate ends. A video went viral recently that showed how a 14 year old boy performed stunt in a train and died accidently while his friends were making live video for facebook.

2: – Hacking, frauds and scams, harm reputation  – Personal data and privacy can easily be hacked and shared on the Internet, which can make financial losses and loss to personal life. Several personal twitter and Facebook accounts have been hacked in the past and the hacker had posted materials that have affected the individual’s personal lives. Several examples are available, similarly, where individuals have scammed and commit fraud through the social media. Social media can easily ruin someone’s reputation just by creating a false story and spreading across the social media. Similarly businesses can also suffer losses due to bad reputation being conveyed over the social media.

3:- Addiction – The addictive part of the social media is very bad and can disturb personal lives as well. The teenagers are the most affected by the addiction of the social media. They get involved very extensively and are eventually cut off from the society. It can also waste individual time that could have been utilized by productive tasks and activities.

5:- Health Issues – The excess usage of social media can also have a negative impact on the health. Since exercise is the key to lose weight, most of the people get lazy because of the excessive use of social networking sites. That people start to follow others who are wealthy or drug addicted and share their views and videos on the web which eventually inspires others to follow the same and get addicted to the drugs and alcohol.

6:-hurts communal harmony and peace, preach violence and terrorism– In recent time we have seen multiple incidents that happened in our country where fake videos went viral and people spewed venom against each other and brewed hatred among communities. Transcending cast and creed, race and religion it has severely damaged the moral fabric of our national integrity and diversity of which our great nation famous for once. Numerous videos surfaced contain violent terrorist materials, terrorist ideologies preached through social sites like Twitter,Whatsapp,Facebook or through other social sites. "As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it." - Albert Einstein                                                   

When dynamite was discovered first, everyone along with the inventor thought it would only be used for the development of society. To build roads in hill region, to construct railroad through a mountain by making tunnels to join the distant lands. To lower the carrying cost and generates more revenue, for mining to build a strong economy for everyone. Unfortunately dynamite also used in wars to kill people. Who should we blame for this misuse? The inventor? Or the people who used it in a wrong way? This is a law of nature or an irony of fate  that the negative and positive are the two sides of a same coin. Thus it is entirely depends upon us how we use social media. To morally upgrade or to degrade our society?

Sri Ramakrishna once told his disciples a very beautiful and meaningful story, how different people use a lamp for different purpose. A man of virtue reads Holy Scriptures at night with the help of a lamp. At the same time a man of vice use the same lamp to commit forgery. The lamp remains neutral. It is beyond good or evil. It is same with social media also.

We have free will to determine what is right or wrong. We have free will to choose our paths. Every time we start a blog, send or receive  a message, photo or  video  through whatsapp, and  blatantly believe and react on them, share our thoughts in facebook, read and comment on a post in facebook or on a blog, share our information in LinkedIn, we must act accordingly/maturely/logically. We shouldn’t let our emotions fogs our reasonability and rationality. We should always remember we are dealing with a mighty power and with great power comes great responsibility. Let us be more responsible towards our society and if we are only cherishing the power of social media and want to be irresponsible we will definitely bring harm not only to us but to our society also. If we only cherish we shall perish.

 

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