Social media is a ruling component of today’s world. Understanding social media and its impact on society has become important because these platforms play crucial role in social relationships, public opinion, and communication. Social media include widely used internet platforms and applications like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X (previously known as Twitter), and many more. Social media has had a huge influence on society, both positively and negatively. For instance, where social media has promoted knowledge, connectivity and mobilization to raise awareness about societal norms and issues. On the other hand, it has also increased concerns about privacy, mental health, and authenticity of information available on social media.
Positive impacts of social media
1) Communication and Connectivity
Social media has reformed the way of communicate and connect. Today, it is popular for facilitating for instant communication and global connectivity. Easy communication and connectivity has enabled it to reach a large number of users. According to an article by OBERLO, there are more than 5 billion users of social media all over the world. These users, sitting in different parts of the world, may connect and communicate with anyone they want. No matter whether it is about professional talks or casual conversations with friends and family members, any kind of communication is super easy these days regardless of border differences.
2) Education and learning
In this modern time, social media effectively contributes in education and learning. There are numerous educational channels available on social media where students can easily access the data at free of cost. Then, social media connects students with each other to entertain the queries of one another. According to research, “90% school going students currently utilize the internet consistently, with more than 75% teenagers using online networking sites for e-learning.” YouTube is one of the popular platforms providing facility of online learning. For instance, “Physics Wallah – Alakh Pandey” is Indian YouTube channel with more than 12 million subscribers that is easily accessible for online learning.
3) Business and Marketing
Social media has changed the marketing world. Traditionally, marketers use to promote their businesses via television, newspaper and pamphlets. Whereas, these days social media is dominating medium in marketing world. Statistics shows that “54% of people use social media to research products.” Unlike traditional media social media enables marketers to target selected segments. For instance, if any chocolate company has to target children for their products sales, they may promote it on YouTube videos in kids’ category. Therefore, social media is effective marketing medium for businesses, and convenient for consumers to research about product
Negative Impacts of Social Media
1) Mental Health Issues
Mental health is one of the major issues caused by social media. Today, people have been addicted social media and use it in excessive. Some people think, the more one use social media, the more he get socially connected with people, which is actually opposite of the findings in researches. For instance, according to study by PennToday, “It is a little ironic that reducing your use of social media actually makes you feel less lonely.” People on social media are in undeclared race of likes and comments. Therefore, getting less likes and comments offend them and ultimately lead them towards feeling of stress and anxiety.
2) Privacy insecurity
Privacy insecurity is another crucial problem caused by social media. People on social media have exposed every personal information in one or other way. For instance, when they order something online it does not only take them to reveal name, number and address, but it also discloses their liking, preferences and financial status. As per PEW research center, “Some 80% of social media users said they were concerned about advertisers and businesses accessing the data they share on social media platforms…” Other than that, people themselves expose their personal information, such as education, hometown, and employment status, in the ‘About’ section of their social media accounts.
3) Societal and Cultural Effects
Social media has great influence on cultures. It is capable of changing and transforming cultural values. According to American Republic University, “Social media wields cultural influence on fashion and food trends, family and adolescent health issues, world news and local events, political and community action events.” For instance, today western countries’ food has been adopted by eastern countries. Eating fast food like pizza, burger and sandwich was never a common thing in eastern countries, but due to social media influence today it is popular food in eastern countries. Similarly, a huge number of people prefer western outfits over their traditional outfits. Therefore, social media is responsible for demeaning the traditional cultural values by glorifying the modern culture.
Mitigation Strategies and Recommendations
The comprehensive measure to be taken to prevent the negative impacts of social media. First, people should be educated about the safe use of social media. It may help to expose the glamorization of foreign cultures and highlight the importance of healthy screen time. Then, social media and local governments must design effective regulation system to attain the privacy concerns of social media users. For Example, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) system is introduced by European Union to secure user data and protect privacy rights.
Conclusion
Since Last decade, social media has completely changed the way people use to communicate and share information worldwide. Social media with its dominance has impacted the society positively and negatively. For instance, it helps communicate easily, learn effectively and grow business swiftly. But, it is also injurious to mental health, unsecure to maintain privacy, and may transform local culture with western and ultimately may topple traditional one. Therefore, it is necessary to balance the pros and cons of social media through comprehensive education and policies to achieve a sustainable technological advancement.
(This video highlights pros and cons of social media)
References
Heitman, S. (2021, August 31). 174 Social Media Statistics & Facts That Just Might Blow Your Mind. Retrieved from ocaliq: https://localiq.com/blog/social-media-statistics
How Many People Use Social Media in 2024? (n.d.). Retrieved from OBERLO: https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/how-many-people-use-social-media
Khan, J. A. (2020, March 16). Exploring the role of social media in collaborative learning the new domain of learning. Retrieved from SpringerLink: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40561-020-00118-7
Linda C. Ashar, J. (2024, 02 05). Social Media Impact: How Social Media Sites Affect Society. Retrieved from American PUBLIC UNIVERSITY: https://www.apu.apus.edu/area-of-study/business-and-management/resources/how-social-media-sites-affect-society/
Rainie, L. (2018, March 27). Americans’ complicated feelings about social media in an era of privacy concerns. Retrieved from PEW research center: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/03/27/americans-complicated-feelings-about-social-media-in-an-era-of-privacy-concerns/
Social media use increases depression and loneliness. (2018, November 9). Retrieved from PennToday : https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/social-media-use-increases-depression-and-loneliness