Social media- Boon or Bane?

HAS SOCIAL MEDIA BENEFITED OR HARMED THE ERA?

                        

Well, as everything is online these days, Kritika and me [Ishita] had a sudden argument. She argued that technology is benefitting us, while on the contradictory, I believed it was more of a bane rather than a boon. So here we are debating this topic out and maybe finding a conclusion.

Seventy-one percent of the survey participants said that social media platforms do not do enough to prevent cyberbullying. (The Annual Bullying Survey 2017, Ditch the Label - UK Study). As every coin has two sides, I [Ishita] feel the other side of social media is somewhat ignored over the glorious effects we can see.

Children currently facing a mental health problem, over 68% say they experienced cyberbullying in the last year. Talking about social media, we are having a lot of free time these days. I believe all of us have ended up having a guilty pleasure these days scrolling for long hours through our phones and binge-watching cat and dog videos. 

I believe these days, social media has become a nuisance. Students get distracted during online classes because of it. Young adults start being productive but as said, social media is a never-ending trap; you just keep on moving forward and forward. Then we do not even realize it has been hours, and our eyes hurt. After all this, we end up sleeping. Talking about eyes- we all are suffering from enough strain these days because of work at home or online classes, aren't we? I doubt we want to increase their stress. Also, I feel social media does steal our family time. The time we could bond and laugh our hearts out, we ended up binge-watching something, and who can forget the background words of our parents complaining and whining how this phone is a young demon we have. I am pretty confident kids who have Asian parents can relate😂.

On the other side, social media have been impactful in the realm of communication. Instead of waiting for letters or flying across countries for meetings, a simple click on send is how far we have come. Social media has given a platform for talented users regardless of their age, color, or nationality. It helps us to connect and show talent to the world. 

It has also become a source of income ($10,000 per post if the influencer has over 1 million followers). 

Users can express themselves and their views about a particular subject. 

Not highlighted news can be shared and talked about, and this is one of the advantages. Many twitter movements such as #metoo have encouraged people to raise a voice. 

Most people tend to be more comfortable online and easily make friends from different places.

In addition, many Instagram pages give free professional counseling to people trying to cope up mentally and giving them emotional support. 

Lastly, according to the survey, it has been exhibited that it has increased self-expression, self-identity gave real-world relationships, and decreased loneliness.

In the end, social media has helped us grow in different domains but, it can also pull you back. So we decided to conclude (thankfully😂) that relying on them can be detrimental to us- mentally and physically. It can end up becoming a curse to humanity if not regulated with boundaries. So yes, social media is a blessing in disguise if not overused.

Kritika Chhetri and Ishita Sharma