Summary:
A close look at the pros and cons of social media, advantages and disadvantages of social media, pros and cons of social networking sites, advantages and disadvantages of social media for students in particular and the disadvantages of social media marketing.
“An open Facebook page is simply a psychiatric dry erase board that screams, “Look at me. I am insecure. I need your reaction to what I am doing, but you’re not cool enough to be my friend. Therefore, I will just pray you see this because the approval of God is not all I need.” ― Shannon L. Alder
In a couple of years, we’ve gone from speaking face to face with one another to chatting without making eye contact. We have made numerous friends but know absolutely nothing about them. We have created an existence revolving around better “selfies” than better “selves”. We have gone from looking out into the world to looking down, addicted to an HD IPS LCD. This is the sad, disheartening reality of the world gripped by the clutches of social media, where the cons of social media outweigh its pros.
Around 40% of the world’s population uses social media with a daily average expenditure of two hours on it. That means around half a million tweets and Snapchat photos are shared every minute and a whole lot of unproductivity through liking, sharing, and tweeting. We have gone from hungry, locating prey and hunting it, to ordering meals online and still being too lazy to go and receive it from the front door.
Students’ lives have been significantly changed by digital places. These spaces have given us new ways to come together and stay connected with the world around us. They have also provided outlets for self-expression. Interestingly, our way of initiating, building, and maintaining relationships has also been influenced by it.
Social media has had a significant impact on how students live their lives. Students today are connected more than ever. Today’s younger generations are particularly fond of social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. The sole purpose of social media is no longer communication.
Like anything in the universe, social media has two sides. It has its pros and cons. It can make or break your life. It has given great power to some and made absolute nincompoops out of a few others. Addiction to anything is bad but here are some of the pros and cons of social media.
The Pros of Social Media
1. Creativity
Social media is the right location of exposure for the creative living amongst us. It gives them the opportunity to create and share their creative content which can also become a side hustle for them. They can go from not being known to someone with a chance to earn. Besides, the platforms can also connect like-minded content creators and create a self-sustaining ecosystem with a competitive edge. This can serve to be one of the greatest pros of social media.
2. Raising Awareness
Social media attracts a billion eyes and hence is the best place to raise awareness about a variety of issues. It is a great platform to highlight issues that otherwise go unnoticed like domestic violence, depression, or unhealthy work environments. Through social media, a greater number of people can be provided with awareness concerning a number of issues that otherwise can be suppressed by politicians and businessmen.
3. Employment
Social media is not limited to only personal connections but is also an excellent professional tool to find talent or get employment. This platform is great for networking and provides many opportunities to find and connect with potential employers. With employment being the need of the hour in a fast-changing, chaotic society, the power and advantage of social media can be enhanced thus.
The Cons of Social Media
1. Virtual vs Reality Conundrum
Everyone appears their best on social media. They try their best to look flawless and show that they have the best going for them. In other words, social media is a cesspool of narcissism. This tendency to show being the best in the virtual world claims a pricey cost in the form of stress. People become more concerned about their image as a photo than as a person.
Half are trying to live a virtual expectation they cannot reach and the other half are busy trying to sustain the artificial existence they have so unwittingly created. On the whole, the hunger for virtual bliss has only destroyed the pleasure in reality that they already had to begin with.
2. Addiction
Social media is an easy addiction for young minds. Once upon a time, students had to climb a tree and compete for a mango, ripe or not. But presently, they compete by tapping furiously on a worthless app called fruit ninja. They neither get any fruit to eat out of it nor have they gained any physical or mental agility through it.
And this is just a mild example. This addiction to the virtual can be so bad that some skip sleep to remain active online while a few imbeciles literally kill themselves due to lack of internet or slow internet speeds. And this turns out to be one of the greatest disadvantages of social media for students especially as they belong to an age group that is extremely impressionable and vulnerable.
3. Depression
Social media is the raw dance of narcissism. A platform where everyone is trying to show that they have a great life albeit through Photoshop. Nonetheless, this mad race to get the highest number of likes on the virtual does not tend to the problems faced by the individual in reality.
Students self-respect, self-esteem, or any other aspect of self-improvement are not increased by Photoshop. Consequently, leaving the actual untended and wasting time online to create a fake virtual existence can accentuate sadness into depression. Meanwhile, there are those uninformed who see that everyone they know online is having a fantabulous life except for them. Plagued by the frequent confrontation of everyone else’s narcissistic regurgitation, they too unknowingly fall into the pit of assumed incompetence, albeit due to the lack of Photoshop skills. This is the sad reality of the disadvantages of social media marketing.
