Argumentative Essay On Social Media

Society’s dependence on a vast array of information and communication technology has not only changed the way we communicate but has also reinvented social activism. Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook and forum websites like Reddit has given digital activism more potential than ever before to create real change. Whether the activism pertains to political, social or economic changes–digital technology allows individuals working collectively to achieve a common purpose with more ease in their pursuit of change.

Social media has become ubiquitous in modern society-a vast majority of the human race devotes their time to liking, posting, and commenting on what others share about their day to day lives. Technology has permitted communication with citizens around the globe, and the world is more united than ever before. It's commonplace to see an entire family connected online all at once, keeping in touch with each other, relatives, and friends. It can be debated that such forms of communication can only enhance the bonds and relationships between humans, with supporters of technology preaching the benefits of facilitated conversations with the rest of the human race. However, social media serves only to destroy relationships, isolating people from society

Is social media good for you, or bad? A study of 12 million Facebook users by Hobbs, Burke, Christakis, & Fowler, in 2016, suggested that using Facebook is associated with living longer although the true purpose is to maintain and enhance your real-world social ties. Interacting online seems to be healthy when the online activity is moderate and complements interactions offline. People with more friends and more social ties in their community tend to live longer” (pg.1) (Hobbs, Burke, Christakis, & Fowler, 2016). It is only on the extreme end, spending a lot of time online with little evidence of connection to people otherwise, that we see a negative association.

Social media has brainwashed and has had a large impacted our society today. As a child, my mother forbid me from using any social media whatsoever. I would beg and beg repeatedly and attempt to do anything to change her mind but her rule never budged. Me being a typical kid, of course had such a strong hatred for this rule and despised my mother because of it. I never really understood why my mom made this rule, but now as an adult with many forms of social media, I thank her for it. Social media like everything has its benefits, but over all it is very negative concept, and will only be worse in the future.

In the age of social media, the world is greatly capable of connecting with others globally, “According to estimates, the number of worldwide social media users reached 1.96 billion and is expected to grow to some 2.5 billion by 2018” (“Statista”). Whether or not these connections are meaningful, are debatable. Especially when the number of those with social media accounts don’t match up with the number of people at protests. When social issues are now more blatant than ever due to social networking, the idea of social change through the use of social media is being tested daily. However, that “assistance” from social media might be doing more harm than good and creating a platform where entropy is taking hold instead. Although social media acts as a great tool to spread news and gather people, it isn’t sufficient enough to be what solely powers social change. Especially when it isn’t being properly utilized to help society reach real change.

Social media has allowed many different forms of interaction. Websites such as Facebook have allowed for old friends to reconnect and remain aware of others’ life events even when separated geographically, as well as allowing new friends to connect. Twitter and Instagram, through the use of hashtags, let large groups of people participate in awareness campaigns, fundraisers, and spreading of news. Still other sites like Tumblr, deviantArt, and YouTube allow communities to form around different kinds of media, and are platforms for creators to showcase multiple kinds of content from writing to videos to various kinds of art. Despite some of the drawbacks, ultimately social media and the communities they foster are in fact beneficial to society as a whole.

Internet started 30 years ago on August 6, 1991 by the World Wide Web. However, the first social media came out roughly about 30 years ago. The name of it was Six Degrees and it was created by Andrew Weinreich on 1997. Six degrees had the capabilities of uploading a profile, making friends, and send messages with family or friends. Nevertheless on 2004, Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg, a 19-year-old who created the biggest social media that changed the world. Till this day, Facebook has reached up 2 billion users and still in counting. Nonetheless, most users are from their teens to mid-40s, that had the capability of spreading information across the globe setting a chain reaction that created and spread fake news. Fake news is easily spread though social media to large numbers of people who are willing to believe and share the fictional material. (Brennen 169-172) According to Gretel, “In the midst of a nationwide debate over the proliferation of fake news on social media sites – and, as one 2015 study by the Media Insight Project shows, at a time when nearly 9 in 10 Millennials regularly get news from Facebook – the numbers, at first glance, may point to a bleak, uninformed future.” Therefore, teens need to use social media to disintegrate some of the repercussion of news.

A 41- year- old mother and her baby were driving through Beaumont, Texas during hurricane harvey when they got stuck in high waters. A bystander saw them floating in a canal and called 911, help was on it’s way immediately. The mother saved the baby's life because she was trying to hold her up as high as she could. They were in very cold water and the baby was suffering from hypothermia. They were rushed to the hospital. Sadly, the mom died but the baby survived. If the women wasn’t informed by social media that there would be first responders out to save her, she would have never left her car and they would have both drowned.This true story, from USA Today, raises the question: Does social media help better inform citizens? Social media alerts you whenever someone is in need for help. About 71% of girls are on social media most of the day so it is very easy to reach out to them.

    To begin, social media is intended for people to communicate with other people across the world through information, pictures, and posts. Even though this advancement in technology provides forms of new communication to the world's fingertips, it brought about many unintended consequences. The majority of people in the world use social

How much of your time is spent on a cell phone or computer daily? What percentage of that time is consumed doing things other than scrolling through your Instagram, twitter, and Facebook feed or snap chatting peers? Seventy three percent of wired teens use social media websites. We live in a society where social media dominates a vast majority of our life. Vanessa Lapointe, through a relatable series of emotional developments, targets teens and families caught up in social media to clearly inform them about the dangers of tech-based social apps, and the vitality of monitoring what we say, do, and like. Our actions, although they may seem immensely minuscule, have large implications.

As social media has been on the rise for the past 10 years, so has the concern about the effect on people. A college student name Alexandra Tendler wrote an article about how social media make us anti-social and how the world evolves their lives around social media. Though social media has now become one of the world’s biggest resources, it’s now affecting people on how they deal with things going on in the real world. This argument contains visual evidence and insights to support their claims and it also contains a flaw or two. It’s not that Alexandra misworded or miss the point of the arguments, but this is indeed an opinionated topic and it misses the reality of things and how people deal with it.

As a child is growing up everything they are exposed to affects their personality and shapes them into their own persona. The schools they attend, the television shows they watch, and the people they are around can influence their ideology of the world and their place in it. Some people view social media as a good way to distract their children and keep them entertained, but children should not be allowed to spend their majority of their time on social media accounts. Some parents may argue that they should not shield their children from the “real world” but it is important to reduce the amount of social media children are exposed to in order to reduce prejudice, avoid cyberbullying, and reduce the amount of inappropriate content they are exposed to.

Social media is constantly changing into new forms of communications that previously didn't exist. With social media, a user can meet someone from anywhere around the world and share life experiences and not have to worry about seeing each other every time they talk. Social media has connected peoples from all over the world and has made communities from peoples who have never met. People can lead a different life than they do in reality. Social media has enhanced people’s everyday lives by connecting one another lives. It’s evolving to becoming one of the standard ways of communication.

Since Twitter’s founding in 2006, it has risen to the top tier of most used social media websites. Now, 11 years later, approximately 10 million people use Twitter every single day (Aslam). While approximately 74% of these users say that Twitter is their go-to for quick and efficient news, the other 41% think otherwise (Gottfried and Shearer). The latter percentage of Twitter users prefer watching news networks such as CNN or Fox and believe that going to a social media platform is misleading and not researched thoroughly. Due to Twitter’s lack of credibility, critics say that using the social media site as a news source is detrimental to one’s understanding of the current world.

There are many opportunities social media offer, for example it gives users the ability to reach out to a large audience. The process of reaching out to a large audience is cost free however it will take time as not everyone is successful at going viral. Another opportunity social media brings is the chance to communicate with consumers, in reality it may be hard to find the chance to speak to someone in the company you’re interested in investing therefore social media makes it easier as it gives direct access to people such as direct messaging, with this they would be able to give feedback on the product they purchased maybe to recommended and suggest new ideas or improvements. Social media is also a creative way to create bonds with their consumers, they can create relationships with consumers, fans and followers, and this will help build trust and loyalty meaning if the customers feel like they are involved with a business they are likely to stay with them.