ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Currently, we’re living in the 21ST Century of the 3rd millennium where
information is just a button press away. We are swayed by information all around
us. That is where social media comes into play. Social media is one of the biggest
elements that we live with and cannot ignore it. Social media is a collection of
websites, applications and other platforms that enable us to share or create
content and also helps us to participate in social networking. Social media is not
limited to blogging and sharing pictures. In fact, there are lot of strong tools that
social media contributes nowadays. According to Forbes, there are estimated to
be about 2.77 billion social media users all over the world. Social media is a very
common in today’s modern world, and is considered to be one of humanity’s
greatest achievements and accomplishments ever in history.

There are endless benefits of social media. For example, social media is a
communication platform where humans are able to connect with each other
from the other side of the world without any boundaries between them. Social
media makes human interaction much more convenient and faster than real life
human interaction where also it makes globalization a reality. People can stay
connected to their families and loved ones no matter how far they are from each
other. Now, with a touch of a button people could communicate with anybody
any time any where in the world. Websites such as Facebook and WhatsApp
makes communication with others an easy task. Its really eye-catching that social
media platforms have been a blessing for the world of communication in the
present circumstances.

Besides, social media is also a platform that provides us with abundance of

information. The social media take less than a minute to keep us abreast of the
latest happenings throughout the globe. Anyone can get an update of every
corner of the world within a few minutes. Social media also provides every
sagacious information about politics, fashions, lifestyle, art, film industry, health
care industry or anything else for that matter. Meanwhile, as a student, social
networking existence is actually one of the best thing that happened to us since
we could do research or revision of our learning with YouTube or Google.

Not to mention that social media also contributes a lot in business marketing
today. It is a platform of advertisement without any cost needed. Indeed, social
media medium became an opportunity for a new rising company to expand their
business in a fastest,cheapest and effective way. Due to social media contribution
in business marketing, these days, our immediate needs or even regular
requirements are met with just some clicks away. If we are hungry or craving for
something to eat, we get food delivered to us easily and quickly without any
effort. Need urgent clothes, shoes, and electronics? Online shopping does it for
you in a heartbeat!

However, social media is still a controversy topic in today’s society. Some

people think that social media destroys human interaction and real life human
relationships. There are also a lot of issues that happens in our society today
because of wrongly use of it.

Since social media has grown in popularity, many have began to believe that
social media is a life necessity. It is viewed by many as a daily necessity like
brushing our teeth, or yet as important as eating. Most people nowadays wake
up and the first thing they do is holding their smart phone while they are still
wrapped in a blanket. Social media has been proven to be a dangerous addiction,
for it takes away interpersonal relationships that are essential in life, and it has
been proven to prevent people from being productive in life.
To begin with, it has been proven to be a dangerous addiction due to the many
negative side effects especially towards health. Using social media too often can
be time consuming and essentially causes sleep deprivation which could interfere
our immune system and potentially damage our eyes due to over-exposure of
smart phone screen display.

As a social media user, there are always chances for us be a victim of identity
theft. Social media is a place of cyber crimes like hackers and scammers also
known as catfish. These cyber crimes are just the same as a real-life crime
conducted on a social media platform but only they steal someone personal
details like bank details, addresses or even their identity for a profit. Moreover,
the use of social media networks can expose individuals to harassment or
inappropriate contact from others which is known as cyber bully. It’s a trend
nowadays where malicious user traps teenagers through a private conversation
and spread rumours of them by exposing their pictures and conversation for an
unknown reason. This is what happened in October 2012, where a 15 year old
student, Amanda Todd was cyber bullied by a pedophile who blackmailed
her which she ends up committed suicide.
 Despite for having a lot of disadvantages, as a forward-looking youth, we
must always look for the silver lining of the social media. We must also be
grateful and grab the opportunity for having the social media in our generation
today. It is an undeniable fact that without social media, the world would have
turned into a global village. Therefore, to avoid from our self being involve in the
bad side of the social media, we must always take precaution and use them in a
sensible and a moderation way yet with full of grace.

Thank You.