“The internet has been a boon and a curse for teenagers.”
- J. K. Rowling -
The advent
of the Internet has brought us pretty cool stuff that has completely
revolutionized the way we interact with one another. We can now have access to
unlimited information with just a click of the mouse. No more running off to
the library to find a book on a subject. Just Google it or look it up on
Wikipedia. Online music, videos and games can be accessed any time of the day for
hours upon hours of entertainment. Connecting with our fellow human beings is
so much easier thanks to chat rooms and forums. Not to mention one of the most
widely used platform for self-expression: social media.
Social media has radically changed the way we share information with our family, friends and even strangers. Setting up a social media account only takes a few minutes with several easy-to-follow steps. After that, you are free to do whatever you want with your account, be it for posting numerous selfies, hooking yourself up with your long-lost pals or telling the world what you had for breakfast. While many of us see no harm in using social media, we must be aware of the advantages and disadvantages that come along with it.
The Advantages
1. Sharing
is Caring
Sharing
information about ourselves has never been easier thanks to social media. Posts
containing text, photos and videos can be uploaded in a matter of seconds,
helping us to spread word about our whereabouts, a recent activity we had participated
in or simply an opinion we have in mind concerning a particular issue.
2. Connecting with Others
Social
media has provided us with a different platform to connect with others. Before
social media was commonplace, most of us had to rely on text messages and
e-mail. With social media, we can connect instantly with any individual, so
long as he or she has Internet access.
3. Finding People
Groups
and pages on social media dedicated to a certain hobby or interest can attract
like-minded individuals to share their knowledge and expertise to others. We
can find useful tips and seek advice to help us on our spare time projects.
Joining these groups and pages is also a great way to meet new people.
4. Endless Entertainment
Memes
and games on social media entertain us for hours on end. Most memes are funny
and witty, prompting us to share them with friends so that they too can laugh
out loud and in turn share them with more friends. The many fun games like Candy Crush and Farmville that are free-to-play on social media give us a respite
after we grow bored of looking at our friends’ posts.
5. Raising Awareness
The
Ice Bucket Challenge was probably a lame excuse for people to pour ice-cold
water over their heads and have their friends like the video featuring them
doing the challenge. However, this sort of trend, at its core, was intended to
raise awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease. Social media is a powerful tool to
spread awareness on issues such as the damaging effects of smoking, the
importance of education and women’s rights.
6. Advertising
Many
companies have turned to social media to advertise on the products and services
they offer. This way, these companies can interact directly with their
customers without the need of an agent or representative to act as a medium.
The Disadvantages
1. Loss
of Privacy
Once
something is uploaded on social media, we may unintentionally share too much
information. A post intended for a small number of friends will be seen by our
other friends. Even with the privacy settings turned on, the post may one way
or another leak out. Our privacy is compromised due to others knowing about our
whereabouts, activities and online behaviour.
2. Cyber Bullying
Social
media can be misused to bully others online. A user may post something
sensitive or offensive with the intention of emotionally hurting another user.
There have been cases where the victims of cyber bullying have committed
suicide over messages or posts that made them feel worthless or degraded.
3. Online Stalking
While
a person may not physically stalk us in real life, he or she can do it
virtually via social media. With all the photos, videos and posts within easy
access, the stalker can find out a lot about us. Worst of all, we may not realize
that we are being stalked until it is too late.
4. Scams and Hoaxes
Con
artists abound on social media, where many of them set up fake accounts and
start befriending gullible users in the hopes of running off with their money.
Some are known to take information from a real account to set up an identical
fake account so as to spread false information. If we are not careful, we may
fall victim to their smooth words and empty promises.
5. Addiction
Social
media can be addictive if we do not know how to control our usage. We may spend
hours just scrolling through the myriad of posts, hitting the refresh button
when we feel like it, only to read more posts. Over time, we may get hooked to
social media and have an overreliance with it to keep updated with our friends
and family. This addiction may affect our lives in general, affecting our
overall performance at work or school.
6. Spreading of Rumours and False Information
Rumours
or false information intending to defame, criticize or poke fun at a certain party
can spread like wildfire if other users believe the post to be true. With no
method to verify if the post is real or not, matters might just get worse. To
add salt to injury, there is an astronomical amount of fake photos circulating
on the Internet available to the average social media user.
7. Self-indulgence
Selfies
and photos showing off the user in a good light, hilarious memes and other
eye-catching posts usually attract more attention than the average text-only
post. The more attention these kinds posts garner, the more likely the user
will probably feel flattered. The major concern is that this may lead to
narcissism, or in other words, loving yourself too much. Narcissism can cause
self-centeredness, inflated self-esteem and an inability to show empathy
towards others.
8. Exploitation
A
research was conducted in 2012 on Facebook users without their prior consent. To
determine whether Facebook could alter the emotional state of its users and
prompt them to post either more positive or negative content, the site's data
scientists enabled an algorithm, for one week, to automatically omit content
that contained words associated with either positive or negative emotions from
the central news feeds of 689,003 users. [1] This sparked an outrage among many
Facebook users, who felt that they had been cheated and used as guinea pigs. This
case is minor compared to the fact that social media companies in general take
user data and sell it to other companies for profit. Where else do they get the
funding to run their sites?
9. Language Conundrum
Most
of us opt for the short form of words or phrases when typing a post or chatting
with another person on social media, the more commonly used ones being lol, btw
and xoxo. Glaring grammar errors and
flimsy sentence structure are most of the time tolerated on social media. Malaysians
in particular love to add slang words (lah,
gostan, balik kampung, etc.) in their posts. This creates an acceptance of
improper use of language, which may cause us to unconsciously use them in real
life.
10. Reduced Face-to-face Contact
Let’s
face it: social media only gives us the illusion that we are in contact with
the people we know. We may not necessarily talk to a particular person in real
life, let alone online. Social media also pose a problem at the dinner table,
especially when the rest are eating and one of us decides to take out our
smartphones or tablet computers to update our status. All this reduces
face-to-face contact and may emotionally affect those around us.
The Conclusion
While it does seem that the cons outweigh the pros when it comes to social media, they are here to stay, whether you use them or not. In order for us to fully enjoy the benefits of social media, we have to take the necessary precautions and update our status with care. Google tips on how to secure your personal information on the social media you use and remember to apply the privacy settings before posting something for your friends to see. After all, we wouldn’t want an inappropriate picture of ourselves going viral now, do we?
References:
[1] Furor Erupts over Facebook’s Experiment on Users – http://online.wsj.com/articles/furor-erupts-over-facebook-experiment-on-users-1404085840
