Essays

Social Media

In the three articles on social media, the authors explained some of the pros and cons of social media. I believe that overall, social media has a positive effect on society, because it brings people closer together, allows people to have their own personal identity, and lastly, it builds friendships and jobs. Without many of these things, people would not be the way they are now.

It is true that there are people on media who will lie about their identities, but there are genuine people as well. There are people who can help the mentally and physically ill. There are people who help others feel better about themselves without lying. For example, the suicide hotline. People who are having suicidal thoughts, or people who are suicidal in general, call the hotline to feel like somebody is there; to feel as if somebody cares. They feel like they aren't alone anymore. Another example would be applications such as Instagram and Facebook. There are Instagram accounts that post every day with listed hotlines to help people through darker periods in their life. If social media can literally save lives, then why would it not be a positive thing?

It is true that people have one identity for their family, friends, and job, but, it also makes a lot of people think before they post. They are keeping family and friends close while also thinking about what is on their news feed or wall. "Social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, are helping people stay in touch with friends and family." (Sydell) Another thing is helps with is giving bad news to family member that is too painful to say out loud. For example, my grandmother just recently passed away. Instead of having to call all of the family individually, it was just posted on Facebook, and all of the family knew. Also, it helps tell people when open events are taking place.

It is true that social media keeps people from going out and being active, but, it even has created jobs, and also, it brings people together from all across the globe who have common interests. For example, people from Ireland and the U.S.A. can contact and talk to each other. They may become friends. An example of this? There are two Youtubers, people who make YouTube videos for a living, who are from two different parts of the globe. One lives in Ireland and one lives in the U.S.A. The one from the U.S.A. helped the one from Ireland get more viewers, and they became best friends. Social media is even going as far as producing jobs, and people are still against its harmful effects and never looking towards the positive things. Let's also mention how hard it is just to run accounts. Especially accounts with 10 million followers. YouTube channels alone take about an hour to edit a 30 minute recording session. Also, they have to do multiple sessions if the software isn't working properly. People never look into how much work is put into posting a simple video. Despite the person not being up and active, being a contribution towards social media is a lot of work. These YouTube people also help people with mental diseases. They can help with depression, anxiety, and even just insecurity.

To conclude, I believe that overall, social media has a positive effect on society, because it brings people closer together, allows people to have their own personal identity, and lastly, it builds jobs and friendships. Social media is positive. Not everything in social media is bad, but it is people that make it a bad place, that makes it negative. If people find negative things, it isn't like they can not block it. There is a lot of cyber bullying that goes on in the internet, but many kids let it affect them. People can block anything on social media that they find offensive or just do not like. It isn't that hard. People just need to learn how to properly use the internet and social media before they make a final judgement.