Monday 16 December 2013

Is Social Media really BS?


As we know, people nowadays communicate through social media sites. There’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, +google, WhatsApp, Hangouts, Wechat and so many others. These platform enables us to constantly keep in touch with our friends and family and it is proven to be very convenient when the people we are communicating with are worlds apart. With social media, there are no gaps or boundaries between us.
            Apart from that, social media sites also enable budding or established entrepreneurs to carry out their activities and communicate with customers and clients with ease. We can see right now that there are a lot of online stores popping up on social media websites such as Facebook and Instagram. It is very convenient to shop online, hence the amount of online vendors and shoppers are on the rise.
Students communicate with each other or with the educators on matters pertaining to their studies such as discussions on lessons or giving information about assignments, tests, events and much more. The working professionals are also able to communicate with their employer and keep in touch with clients or fellow colleagues. These communications are mostly done in Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.
            Despite that, there are also elements that agrees with the notion by B.J. Mendelson that social media is bullshit. The creation of social media as the modern tool to interact across the world has brought negativity within the society and threatens the safety of a nation. Intensified debates can escalate and create chaos based on their personal agenda. Not to mention how politicians play their games in persuading and inculcating the public with their ideologies through social media. This can sometimes prove to be too much. Those who wishes to have privacy can forget about it if they have social media accounts for they are the places where privacy is almost non-existent.
            Social media is often a place where people took freedom of expression to their hearts. It is the main tool for irresponsible individuals to jibe statements that hurt others without acknowledging the consequences of their actions. Sometimes, social media is also a place for people to steal away other’s money. These are called scams and it can be done in so many ways especially with the availability of the internet. An example would be through online shopping, where fake vendors would accept money from people who wanted to buy something but the vendor deliberately failed to deliver the item.
            As a conclusion, social media is convenient but the amount of downsides exceeds and is more malicious than its upsides. It has made us slaves because whether we liked it or not, we often bow down our heads to look on our smartphones’ screen. The addiction to it erodes interpersonal communication in real life. The contradicting nature of social media agrees with the notion that it is bullshit.


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