The Essay Question: Many people believe that social networking sites have a huge negative impact on both individuals and society.
To what extent do you agree?
The Essay: A large section of the population opine that the World Wide Web portals connecting masses socially, has enormous adverse effects not only on people but also mankind. I agree to an extent with this, as it has made possible uniting people living in distant places with their friends and family, apart from helping advertisers promote their products in an efficient manner.
Social media is a bane when it comes to children, as they get addicted easily wasting a lot of time, while they could be more physically active or interacting personally with peers. This in turn predisposes them to health issues and mental disorders. For example, Facebook has a number of addictive games such as Farmville, Gardenscapes and many more, which once became a trend amongst students engaging them for a majority of time.
Nevertheless, virtual community platforms are the easiest means of communication to connect with relatives who are in different cities or even continents. This has helped to stay in touch with family, find long lost friends and make new connections.
Additionally, social networking sites have created a revolution in the advertising field. A myriad corporate behemoths of the world, are using this medium to maximise their audience participation and create trends. For instance, recently Google introduced a Diwali offer, in their Google Pay application, wherein people stand a chance to win one lakh rupees by collecting 5 stickers. This gained them more transactions and higher reach because it became the most trending news online.
To conclude, I agree to an extent that the social media has major disadvantages for individuals and society. Although children spend more time online which is harmful, it benefits people by enabling faster connectivity and has paved the way for a new world of digital marketing benefitting marketeers.