Essays about Social Media Page 8

What is Social Media

Social media refers to websites and applications that are designed to allow people to share content quickly, efficiently, and in real-time. While some people just consider it apps on their phone or ipad it is so much more than that. Social networks are somewhere where you can share everything and anything about your life. You can also use it to create business pages to sell or promote products. Some of the networks that we are referring to while talking about this are Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. The social part of it all is the fact that you can give information to other people and receive information back. The media part, social media sites are web based communication tools to help people interact with one and other.

Based on what social you are using there are many different features that you are working with and seeing. You need to create an account with your name or business name which shows there will be user interaction. A profile page shows people who click on your name who you are will your profile picture and bio. If you are private account this is all they will be able to see but if you are public anyone could scroll through your feed seeing what’s up with your life at any time. When you decide to follow someone’s account on social media you are basically wanting to keep updated on information from these people. Your feed is updated in real time with everyones posts from the people you are following. Two of the most common ways that people interact through social media is by liking and commenting on their posts. This is where people typically share their thoughts.

Social Media and Mental Problems

Most individuals know someone with a mental health problem or an addictive behavior, but have they ever thought about where it could have risen from? The rise of anxiety and depression have been believed to drive a child’s life. Feeling driven by a motor and needing to check your phone constantly can result in negative effects. Mental health issues and addictive behaviors stem from a conglomerate of sources, but more directly, has been exasperated by social media in modern society.

Mental health disorders can be one of the several negative effects given to a child by their phone. It has been shown that anxiety is a huge factor coming from social media, “Other studies have shown that people with social anxiety prefer communicating with people via the internet rather than in person, so it would be an ideal way to initiate relationships” (Maldonado). Even some social networking environment, such as Facebook, can cause anxiety.

“Recent research has shown that using social networking sites, namely Facebook, can increase people’s stress levels, produce anxiety and negatively affect a person’s sense of self” (Maldonado). Even if people were to not look at the platforms, and just focused on the ‘likes’, problems would be found throughout. “The need to gain “likes” on social media can cause teens to make choices they would otherwise not make, including altering appearance, engaging in negative behaviors, and accepting risky social media challenges” (Hurley). As Hurley also claimed, “It’s difficult to build empathy and compassion (our best weapons in the war on bullying) when teens spend more time “engaging” online than they do in person.”

Social Media Effect on Children

Social media helps the students to access some techniques which are useful to them. The skills that they acquire aids them to keep up with life in their future. The networks enable them to be responsible and proficient adults. With the skills from the networks, they are capable of taking part in the societal activities with no difficulty. With the network exposure, the kids are also capable of interacting with people without any difficulty. And make friends.

The networks gives the kids an opportunity to express a high degree of creativity and be able to learn how to face large audiences. The networking enables them to increase the confidence in themselves and they end up becoming adults that can express themselves with no fear. With the social media the students are capable of forming groups which they use to discuss school work and share ideas with each other.

With the social media they can also be able to access learning materials from the friends they meet online. The platforms helps students also keep in touch with their peers and get to network with peers who have the same interests. The kids become friendlier and are able to point out their view on the statuses and the videos their friends post online. And can maintain long relationships and friendships.

The distressed kids are able to share what is stressing them out with their friends and this cheers them up and this greatly improves their moods. They become more loving and caring and can overcome their depressions. The empathy shown by the peers are positive. The kids through the social networking are also in the cap ability of bringing changes in the community and organize some events like fundraisings for their underprivileged friends. This also promotes unity and peaceful co-existence between the people in the society. With the kids networking with people from many parts of the world, they can be able to adopt different cultures and get to know many people worldwide.

Advantages of Social Media

Researchers can keep in touch with other researchers. Social media creates a global form of communication where people from different parts of the world can communicate frequently. Previously, communication with researchers around the world was difficult and many lost touch and could not follow up with certain researchers to keep up with their current works. Websites such as LinkedIn has ensured effective networking of people in the same field of work (Ngai et al., 2015).

Regular updates via social media on available conferences. Social media pages created specifically for research purposes provide updates on available conferences and workshops for researchers. Seminars are also communicated effectively through social media, and researchers can attend them for both work and relaxation purposes. Regular update information on social media on research topics. Any new findings about a certain topic can be automatically updated to the target audience (Lupton, 2014).

These creates a higher quality content that is up to date and readily available. There is a large pool of information that is easily accessible in websites such as Wikipedia that make research easier.
Social media makes it easy for researchers to keep up with technological advances. Problem solving and research and programming problems is easier. Information spreads a lot faster across social media, and it reaches people at the same time and at an equal rate as long as they stay connected.

Google Trends and Google search are social media platforms that help researchers to carry out surveys on different topics. These methods are cheaper and provide larger samples than previous surveying methods. Researchers can analyze information faster using these platforms.

Disadvantages of Social Media

A lot of time is wasted in browsing information. There is a lot of information available in social media and it takes time to find relevant and useful information for a specific research topic. This is especially common in social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (Ngai et al., 2015).

Questionable reliability of information. Outlets such as Facebook and Twitter provide large quantities of information that may not be accurate. These networks interfere with the original data and filter it in subtle ways. Relying on information such as number of likes without the number of dislikes makes it harder for researchers to use social media information accurately. Spamming is also a source of misinformation.

Spammers are often mistakenly included in surveys that involve social research on human behavior and predictions.
Surveys in social media are often inaccurate as they only involve certain groups, but researchers present this information in a manner that suggest that they are accurate when they really not. These researchers often use groups and events that can be easily classified especially in social analysis. Lack of face to face communication makes it harder for researchers to come up with effective solution because they are unable to gauge the sincerity of the respondent. This brings a lack of motivation and enthusiasm of the researcher (Lupton, 2014).

Conclusion

In conclusion this topic is important to me because it shows that social media is a life changing platform for businesses and organizations especially in terms of connectivity and network. Researchers are able to obtain information from other researchers in other parts of the world. Social media has been a revolutionary platform in my life in terms of information, although I am well aware of its limitations and challenges especially when it’s used for research purposes.