Social Media - Advantages & Disadvantages

Hey!! Let me just take a selfie to post on my facebook profile. Hey! can you take a picture of me with Taj Mahal on by background? I will be posting it on my instagram handle. Well, let me make a reel for instagram too, and blah blah blah...

We were on a vacation and heard those words from people around us.

Social media has been an integral part of our life. About 1/4 of Indian population uses different social media platform. Now a days people are so obsessed with getting likes and clicks that they create profiles of their newborn and post their whole journey. One of my friend says that she will handover the social media handle to her baby at when the child attains the appropriate age. It sounds so interesting that baby's life journey, the memories, will be captured in a single place but, there can be a different perspective to it.

Social media has brought in many opportunities and has helped many to gain name and fame as well. Many individuals are showcasing their skills and innovations, many are using it to create awareness on different socio-political issues, Many are using it for business development and the list can go on.

Below are some of the advantages of Social media:

Ease off communication: Today, reaching out to someone is bit easy as compared to old days. One can be traced to his/her location, business he/she is into and many more via Social media platform (If he/she is also present on Social media as well).

Expression: Expression of thoughts, opinion, ideas has become very easy because of Social media.

Like minded connection: Getting connected with like minded people around the globe has become easy.

Promotion of business: These days social media handle has become crucial for most of the business entity for showcasing their work, promoting brands, products and personal profile.

Access to information: Access to news and current affairs has reached to our finger tip.

Use of the social media platforms are mostly free, interesting and engaging. There is no wrong in using social media. But, there is a saying:

If you are not paying for using a product then understand that you are the product.

Well, so how cum a person using any social media platform is a product? Can any social media sell someone like a shopkeeper sells shoes, glasses, trouser etc. Absolutely NO but, the social media platforms can sell your personal data which contains your Name, Age, Sex, Address, Family details, interest area, political inclination, relationship status and many more. And that exactly defines YOU. Basically the photos, videos we upload, the kind of pictures videos we like, put a comment on etc gives our personal information to the social media owners. There are algorythms set by these companies to detect your interest area and accordingly products are designed to lure you to avail something, get subscription you never needed and many more. With every click we are providing information, with every word we search we are providing information that is making the social media richer. 

Question is are we really safe? Is there anything private anymore? 

Some of the disadvantages of excessive use of Social Media:

Distraction and Loss of Productivity: People active on social media tend to check their profile again and again to see how many likes they have got, what comments they have got etc. This leads to less productivity of the person.

Misinformation: There are instances when things have happened because of misinformation and it is very difficult to find out the primary source. So spreading fake news, propoganda can mislead huge chunk of users.

Privacy and Personal data leakage: There is always threat of leakage of personal data by the social media and threat to privacy as well.

Superficial connections: People are getting connected superficially. The social media in real make fake connections. People very much active and charming in chatbox can be the opposite in real life.

Addiction: Globally, the per day per head use of social media is around 2.5 hours which is 10.4% of a day. And if we take work, sleep, grooming, outdoor activity time into consideration the number is frightening. Not to forget that this is average figure and in many cases things can be very very scary.

Bullying and Harassment: There has been many instances where bullying and harrassment via social media is reported.

Depression and Anxiety: Excessive use of social media can lead to low self-esteem, anxiety and dipression especially among teenagers and people going through a hard time.

Social Isolation: Excessive use of social media can also lead to isolation where users prefers to stay indoor and be live on social media rather going for a walk, shopping to the local market and making meaningful connection.

So, Social media has some advantages as well as some disadvantages and users must decide how much time to spent on it, what to share and what not to. Because, at the end you only decide for yourself.