Social media is seen as an advantage for many, while some see it as a toxic platform. Social media is what many kids, teenagers, and adults use in their free time; it’s become part of our generation. Although social media has its great advantages, it can become toxic in many ways such as ruining relationships, cyberbullying, and more.
Having people on their devices such as cellphones can become damaging. When you walk into a restaurant, you may notice some people at a table on their cellphones instead of communicating with one another. Moreover, it has made many people lazy as instead of communicating face to face and hanging out, some people prefer to text and/or video call one another. In addition to social media making people lazier than before, apps are being created each day to make their lives “much easier.” This includes apps allowing other people to go out and purchase groceries for them, and deliver food. Although this idea is great, it is giving more reason for people to stay home and not connect with the outside world.
There are many ways that social media can be toxic. One of them is that popular people such as models, create a visual picture for everyone to look at and see perfection; however, this plants a seed in many individuals’ minds on what people (most especially girls) should look like. For example, some girls believe that being “beautiful” means having fair clear skin, long silky hair, and weighing a certain amount. Because many people define these things as “perfect” many girls believe they are not good enough. Because of these characteristics that define someone as “perfect,” many girls end up starving themselves and developing eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia just to be a step closer to “perfection.” As for men, they believe that they need to be muscular and fit to be able to win a girl’s heart and for society to accept them. This can badly impact children which can drag their self-esteem down. Given that many people think they need to look a certain way to be good enough and feel accepted due to the images that are buried in their minds says a lot about today’s society.
Lastly, cyberbullying is common online whether you’re a celebrity or not. Many people, including celebrities, are cyberbullied each day. Cyberbullying is defined as using an electronic device to communicate and bully an individual online by sending harmful messages or photos. This includes explicit languages and threats. Cyberbullies use social media as their advantage to anonymously mess with people, going so far as telling someone to die, kill themselves, or comment on how “ugly” they look. For example, many people, as well as celebrities, receive death threats and nasty comments each day.
Therefore, it is clear that social media has many advantages such as being able to communicate with friends and family across the world; however, it comes with disadvantages such as ruining relationships, being part of a toxic platform, and possibly get cyberbullied or being a witness to cyberbullying. Because at least 97% of the world’s population uses social media, it’s quite evident that social media is beginning to rule the world. Social media is an addiction, and it is a lot more common than you may think. Not only is it common in teenagers, but also adults. Some people’s screen time on their devices can be as little as three hours, to more than twelve hours a day. Thus, social media is great, however, there should be a limit when using it.