social media technologies that allow
users to create and share information
with others examples include sites like
Facebook Instagram snapchat and Twitter
we're looking at the pros and cons of
social media today and so that each side
gets its say I'm breaking the debate
down into two broad topics that
represent what I think social media
brings to the world that is greater
connectivity being able to connect with
people far easier and far quicker and
having a lot more information readily
our fingertips let's get to it one of
the greatest pros of social media is how
easily and quickly allows us to connect
and communicate with others most of the
time for free we can get news in real
time and message each other instantly
long gone are the days of having to
write letters and we no longer have to
rack up expensive phone bills just to
call each other social media profiles
also allow us to represent ourselves and
connect to people with similar interests
which is really useful for dates and
also in the job market people can market
themselves to potential employers who
are intern more easily able to find
people on sites like Facebook and
LinkedIn one significant con this
greater connectivity has is that having
people doing everything through a screen
can risk stopping them from meeting up
in person in the past before instant
messaging people would write letters and
maybe call their friends but the focus
here was always about setting up
face-to-face meetings opponents argue
that social media gives people one more
reason not to meet up which can have
detrimental effects on our social skills
as well as on our human need to talk to
people face-to-face on a more positive
note one of the advantages of greater
connectivity is that it allows us to
inspire others to do things major social
movements have originated on social
media like the black lives matter
movement and Occupy Wall Street
furthermore social media can increase
voter participation as well as this
crowdfunding sites shared on social
media platforms have generated millions
for projects that otherwise would not
have gone
as much on a smaller scale people
deciding to make positive lifestyle
changes like losing weight can share
this on social media platforms causing a
domino effect which inspires others to
make similar lifestyle changes on the
other hand this can have the inverse
effect of making people feel more
self-conscious about themselves this is
because social media allows us to
portray the best possible version of
ourselves which can lead to people
comparing themselves to others and
setting ridiculously high standards
which can be very detrimental to mental
health as well as this the fact that
people can portray a version of
themselves different to how they
actually seem can incentivize bullies
and at worst sharp predators
the other thing social media gives us is
lots of information sites like YouTube
Facebook or Twitter allow people to
write posts and share videos to millions
of others furthermore many people now
get the majority of their news from
sites like these which can be accessed
in real time and stay up to date almost
for the second this arguably results in
people being better informed sites like
YouTube are also beneficial to children
and adults alike you can eat because
they can use them to watch educational
videos like the one you're watching now
more information that can be accessed
quicker means we become more productive
right however you could argue that this
access information leads to the inverse
people becoming less productive with
their time because people end up getting
distracted by social media this isn't
helped by the fact that sites like
Facebook and Instagram use algorithms
that make you want to continue scrolling
they're almost addictive this access
information also arguably doesn't
broaden people's horizons instead it
tends to solidify existing divides take
the millions of times fake news sites
were shared in the run-up to the 2016
presidential election a Stanford
University paper that I've linked in the
description shows how these same sites
continue to be accessed over 70 million
times a month after the election
again social media algorithms do not
help in this department sites make money
from adverts so they want you to stay on
the platform as long as possible so they
can show you as many ads as possible to
keep you hooked they show you what you
want reinforcing pre-existing biases and
leading to this echo chamber like stay
where people hear what they want to hear
this point about advertising is also
important because although it allows
social media to be free and employ
millions of people to mark it out
correctly sites end up collecting lots
of info bottles including our sexual
orientation whether we're depressed etc
to conclude social media allows us to
connect to each other for free it also
allows us to access almost unlimited
amounts of information instantly there
are many extra benefits this in terms of
making us smarter and more knowledgeable
about each other but also disadvantages
in there it can reduce face to face
contact make people compare themselves
to others and have social media giants
know a lot about us from the data we
share what do you think about social
media leave your opinion in the comment
section below and don't forget to Like
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