Part 3: Reading the text g8 Task 3: Read the following text.
Is too much social media dangerous? Today’s society is, in many ways, enormously different to the society of even ten years ago.
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Indeed, if you had predicted even half the changes which have taken place, that would have been incredible. The last decade has seen the rise of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. According to the Pew Research Center, a respected data- gathering organization, more than 75% of adults who are online consume social media. If this figure is accurate, it has huge implications for society as a whole. This essay will argue that although there are certainly some advantages connected to social media, the disadvantages far outweigh the benefits. Three of these problems will be examined here, namely, that people can feel less rather than more connected as a result of social media, that our privacy is threatened, and that educational opportunities are more limited.
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Firstly, Hartnell et al. (2015) argue that people, especially teenagers, can feel more disconnected as a result of heavy social media use. Although some argue that social media enables people to stay in touch with friends more easily (e.g., Marsh 2013), it appears that while people have more ‘friends’, the quality of interaction with their ‘friends’ is lower than it was previously. Smithson (2014) agrees with this point, providing data that shows that when groups of friends meet, 68% of their interaction is with their mobile phone, and only 32% is with each other. Furthermore, Wehner (2015) makes the distinction between ‘real’ friends and ‘online’ friends, raising the following important question: How many ‘Facebook friends’ would you actually go to meet for a coffee?
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The second argument against social media concerns the threat to our privacy. According to a 2014 report by Globulus, a social media agency, people are finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish their private lives from their public lives. Young people may write things on social media which they would not want potential future employers to see. Doing this will have a significant impact on their future if they do not use the correct privacy setting (which many do not). In addition, as noted by Clareton (2012), the volume of data gathered by social media companies is enormous, and if these data were to fall into the wrong hands, it would be disastrous for that individual. This system is not democratic. One further problem is that of tailored advertising. Social media sites know your search history, and as a result can direct specific adverts to you. While some think this is a good thing as it makes the whole online shopping process more efficient, others are very concerned that this gives companies too much power over our lives. If there had been clear regulations on this when social media started, we would not have this problem now.
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The third key argument against social media is that it reduces the quality of education and knowledge which is generally available. Of late, there has been a general trend towards the ‘minimalizing’ of knowledge: instead of proper, detailed essays and articles about news stories or academic topics, social media users are constantly presented with stories such as ‘8 things you never knew about this’ or ‘You’ll never believe this’. Because on social media these stories have to be written very concisely, the danger is that ‘our understanding of the world will be reduced to nothing more than a ‘like’ or a ‘share’’ (Pullinger, 2011). Indeed, if we continue to do this, society will be at risk.
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In summary, while there have been multiple positives brought by the internet and social media, we should reduce its impact, otherwise the result will be a society which is more disconnected, less private and less educated and knowledgeable about important issues. Social media is already powerful; we must prevent it from becoming omnipotent. One of the main problems connected to this is that many young people do not see any alternative, and so follow their peers whether they like it or not.
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