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Social media is a facet of modern life that is incredibly influential in the daily activities of its users. However, an ongoing debate cites that social media presents both beneficial and detrimental consequences to individuals that engage with it. Despite the negative effects that may occur during the use of social platforms, the prevalence of social media is still mostly positive in the lives of regular users. Due to the developed connectivity, community-building, and communication and information exchange, social media is primarily beneficial to modern society.
The primary focus and aim of social media were always to establish connectivity among individual users or participating groups and organizations. In the modern day, it can be observed as the most effective mode of communication and sharing of information. It surpasses prior channels of connectivity and communication due to its speed and ease of facilitating interactions. This has a number of consequences for modern life which are primarily positive. Essentially, both group and individual connectivity is supported by the current implementation of social media and serves as a platform for dialogue, sharing of resources, and meaningful exchanges (Abeele et al., 2018). The connectivity provided by current social has the potential to facilitate both beneficial, detrimental, or neutral exchanges but largely contributes to the ease with which others can be reached and as such frequently provides positive results within the lives of regular users. Sometimes, such as in the case of an emergency, the connectivity provided by social media may even be crucial.
It can be assumed that with increased progress and development, social media is becoming more complex. However, with growing user populations and the variety in demographics, many social media platforms are actually becoming more clear and easily accessible. In fact, current users require minimal education prior to using social media effectively (Gleason et al., 2019). Similarly, social platforms have become easily accessible despite previous barriers such as age, location, and sometimes even economic or other backgrounds. As a result, a number of opportunities associated with social media have become easily utilized by demographics that lacked access or guidance in usability in prior years. While ease of access and the clarity that is currently provided may also be used negatively, the characteristics of social media inherently work to increase connectivity and non-inhibited exchanges of information.
A fundamental element of social media that became prevalent even in its early development includes community formulation and maintenance. Prior to the widespread use of the internet, activities based on community creation were primarily restrained by obstacles such as geographic location, language barriers, and even economic status. The introduction of early social-centered spaces such as forums to modern social media platforms has either removed or eased such restraints. While language barriers still work to segregate certain areas of the internet or social media, there are still alternatives, such as translation tools or communities limited to selected languages. As a result, certain individuals or even groups that had previously found themselves unable to partake in certain organized events or exchanges are now able to do so with much easier access (Mundt et al., 2018). Community-based interactions can range from interests to activism and are therefore vitally important to the conduct of everyday life.
Social media has also significantly shaped the landscape of business and advertising in recent years. Both smaller firms, individual vendors, and large companies have utilized the features of social media to be more prevalent in the lives of consumers, primarily through advertising. With the rise of internet shopping and the general nature of digital advertising, social media is significantly less costly and time-consuming to produce (Källbäck, 2019). This creates an advantage for businesses, as they may now choose whether to increase or decrease spending on marketing. Similarly, social media provides a direct line of communication between the firm and its customers, which can be crucially advantageous for brand identity and awareness. A more intimate and responsive relationship with clients is likely to increase brand trust and can affect general operations within a company and the results it may produce in the long term.
Brand identity is similarly important to individuals who utilize social media for professional growth and networking. Just like for larger brands, social media is less costly and time-consuming for both advertisements products, the brand, and engagement with potential clients. This can be crucial for individual professionals who may lack resources or opportunities to engage with customers, other professionals, and employers without the intervention of social media (Seymour, 2020). Additionally, certain employment or even newly developed types of work require increased use of social media (Nisar et al., 2019). While social media facilitates competitiveness, it also allows for greater visibility to desired populations and the targeting of demographics to which an individual service or product is more relevant. The combination of low costs, advertising to targeted demographics, and ease of marketing creation can be influential to the professional capabilities of an individual and are currently achievable via social media.
Self-expression is an often overlooked feature that is widely prevalent within social media. It may often be overshadowed by the more commercial proponents of social platforms, but is also a leading factor that defines the number of users. While advertising and brand-related content is frequently shared, social platforms are still dominated by user-generated creations (Pittman, 2018). This may range from artistic pursuits to daily life content and audiences of said content can vary from close family and friends to millions of people. However, the content is all a form of self-expression that is directed by the users. As such, it expresses a kind of freedom that has not been easily accessible prior to the popularization of social media.
Despite the numerous advantages that social media presents in modern life, it is also prone to facilitating or contributing to negative behaviors or effects. Mental health is a topic that is frequently discussed in relation to social media, primarily because while it can provide those with mental health issues and concerns with resources and communication, it can also contribute to adverse effects (Carrier, 2018). Social media use and suicide, self-harm, and mental health risks have been linked with a substantial prevalence among younger users. Social media may add to isolation, cyber-bullying, and reliance that certain individuals experience and therefore create barriers to opportunities that aim to improve their circumstances or mental health state. Similarly, while a variety of resources are available online and on social platforms, both misinformation and anxiety-inducing content are also prevalent (Nieuwland, 2017). As such, excessive and non-cautious use of social media has a high chance of negatively contributing to the mental health of users, especially those that are of adolescent age.
Reliance and excessive usage are not detrimental only to users who may be experiencing mental health issues, but can also harm regular individuals. A number of social media platforms are designed to engage with users for prolonged periods of time but unlimited use of social media has several negative consequences including the worsening of ones physical health and time consumption. Social media may also not be totally effective in identifying and limiting problematic behaviors and practices that can occur on social media platforms (Sheldon et al., 2019). This may allow users more room to engage with hazardous content or individuals.
Social media presents a very complicated dilemma, as it provides both beneficial features and negative consequences to users in their everyday life. However, the current features provide an outstanding improvement to the conduct of communication, connectivity, and sharing of information that allows for the personal and professional development of many individuals and groups. As such, social media currently functions in a way that is beneficial to the modern life of its users.
Works Cited
Abeele, Mariek V., De Wolf, R., & Rich Ling. Mobile Media and Social Space: How Anytime, Anyplace Connectivity Structures Everyday Life. Media and Communication, vol. 6, no. 2, 2018, Web.
Carrier, Mark. From Smartphones to Social Media: How Technology Affects Our Brains and Behavior. ABC-CLIO, 2018.
Gleason, Cole, et al. Addressing the Accessibility of Social Media. Conference Companion Publication of the 2019 on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, 2019, Austin, TX.
Källbäck, Joel. Examines the benefits of social media marketing in contrast to traditional advertising. 2019. Ph.D. dissertation. Digitala Vetenskapliga Arkivet.
Mundt, Marcia, Ross, Karen, & Charla M. Burnett. Scaling Social Movements Through Social Media: The Case of Black Lives Matter . Social Media + Society, vol. 4, no. 4, 2018, Web.
Nieuwland, Jack. Coping with Social Media Anxiety. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2017.
Nisar, Tahir M., Prabhakar, Guru, & Lubica Strakova. Social media information benefits, knowledge management, and smart organizations. Journal of Business Research, vol. 94, no. 1, 2019, pp. 264-272, Web.
Pittman, Matthew. Happiness, Loneliness, and Social Media: Perceived Intimacy Mediates the Emotional Benefits of Platform Use. The Journal of Social Media in Society, vol. 7, no. 2, 2018, pp. 164-176, Web.
Seymour, Cheyenne. Successes and Setbacks of Social Media: Impact on Academic Life. John Wiley & Sons, 2020.
Sheldon, Pavica, Rauschnabel, Philipp, & James M. Honeycutt. The Dark Side of Social Media: Psychological, Managerial, and Societal Perspectives. Academic Press, 2019.
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