Advantages and disadvantages of social media by @papi.mati

Social media may be very useful but when used unwisely, it may have a very negative effect on us, as individuals and society in general. I didn't want to stay on one side and focus only on the pros or cons of that invention, so I will try to present, five biggest advantages and five disadvantages of social media, trying to keep it neutral.

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+ More effective than traditional media

Facebook, Twitter, and other social media are existing long enough to prove that it's very effective when we are looking for quick information. It gives the advantage to inform about the important things from the first hand, in the opposite to the newspapers or TV station which needs to send the reporter to the place where something happens. It is very useful during crises, like natural catastrophes, floods, earthquakes, or hurricanes. It additionally allows us to quickly inform our friends and family that we are safe.

Besides that, even though most centralized social media have policies that don't allow users to publish some information (that doesn't include decentralized social media, like steemit), it remains more independent than some national media use censorship. Thanks to that independence, social media helps to report about governments or police using unnecessary violence, like recently during the protests in Chile (without live relations and first-hand videos, people wouldn't know that police was shooting at the peaceful protesters because it was not shown by any conventional media).

Social media helps people to gather and protest. It was the direct reason for starting Arab Spring. With all the tools which it gives to us, it helps to increase the level of freedom worldwide.

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+ Communication

Social media helps us to remain in touch with our friends and family. It's like an opened window for the world without leaving home. It simplifies our lives and has a positive impact on our social relations. That advantage is especially important for the people who have limited possibilities to stay in touch with others: elderly people, people with some disabilities which cannot leave the bed, but besides that also people like me, who are migrating a lot.

I left many friends and family members on another continent - with communicators and social media I can contact them any time I want without spending any money. I may also follow their lives, stay in touch with them. Just with few clicks on the laptop or smartphones I can check their status, read about their new kids, families, trips, sympathize when they do have problems, or congratulate them when they achieve something.

+ It simplifies our lives

Depends on the social media we talk about, they provide some advantages which simplify our lives a lot. In one place there are gathered options which allows us to find the products we want to buy (markets), search for the job offers, play games with our friends or entertain in any other way or even earn the money, like on Steemit. Sure, all that options were available on the Internet before the social media era, but gathering it in one place and making it simpler to find and use helps us all to save our time.

Some groups help to find the answer to the questions which troubles us a lot. If someone has a problem at work as let's say, Ingeniero, can join the group dedicated to that profession and ask colleagues from around the world to help them with finding the solution. Similarly, as a foreigner in Argentina or before in Chile, I can find answers for troubling questions, like "where to find some products" or "where can I find the dentist who speaks English" in the groups dedicated to ex-pats.

+ allows us to meet new people or even life partner

It allows us to meet new people with similar hobbies or simply, people who are in around and who are willing to spend some time with the others. It's an opportunity to get new friends and in some situations, also finding life partners. Some social media offer tools to help people dating, but even without it, using some groups for singles may help a lot.

That way of meeting new people in virtual life at first may be very helpful especially now when most of the places are closed due to pandemic restrictions and we all don't have many options to meet someone "live", as we usually are not leaving our homes when it's not necessary.

+ helps to promote ourselves

Being the artist, performer, or musician, we can share our artwork with others or create a profile dedicated to our products. The same is when we have a conventional company. Social media helps us to advertise our products and services regularly or pay for more professional promotions which can be seen by more users. Special tools allow us to choose the profile of the potential customers so we know the advertisement will be more effective. It's a huge advantage comparing to conventional media, like newspapers, radio, or TV.

Imagine you are selling cosmetics to the beard. Making the advertisement in the newspaper or TV, it's seen by thousands of people, but it will include women, kids, men without a beard, or men who don't use such a product because of any other reason. Social media allows you to pay for the advertisement which will be seen only by people you will select, which may include gender, age, region (country, state, or even city), and... hobbies. That's a way more effective solution!

Education

I'm on Steemit for few months and I cannot even describe how much I have learned from this platform. Now I know what is Eid, celebrated in Islamic countries, I know about Simon Bolivar and Venezuelan history, in general, I have learned how to make African Achu soup and got plenty of knowledge about cryptocurrency.

Social media help us to get information about any subject which interests us and in most cases, it's totally free. That advantage has to be used wisely though. Even though the Internet is like an unlimited book full of precious information, sometimes it's trash too, and not every knowledge we gain is real. It's a good thing to always double-check all the information to avoid fake news and misleading.

- FAD, depression

It's really easy to get addicted and spend too much time on social media. It's so popular that the new name of the addiction based on Facebook was even made to describe it properly. FAD (Facebook Addiction Disorder) is especially dangerous for young people, but in fact, it can touch anyone. It's important to notice, that it doesn't have to be facebook only - you can get addicted to steemit, Twitter, Instagram, or even an old fashioned Myspace (does it still work? :) If you have noticed any symptoms, try to disconnect for few weeks or, if it's impossible, look for professional help.

Some social media may cause depression too. According to studies, the worst is Instagram. It's all because of the algorithms which promote some selected posts. We are bombarded by the photos of successful people with beautiful skinny or muscular bodies, we compare ourselves to them and in effect, our self-esteem gets lowered. It doesn't have to be about the body only - we can see photos of the rich people on their yachts, read statuses about oriental vacations of our friends, new houses they built or exciting adventures they had and we compare it to us constantly.

For our mental health, it's important to know that most of the people in the world have regular bodies and are not rich and even the richest people have boring daily routines sometimes. It's just that the algorithms of some social media promote the posts which show something different and 1% of the most exciting moments are shown as something that happens to everyone, all the time.

- influencing elections

Who didn't hear about the trolls hired by the governments, opposition, or even foreign countries to mess a bit in the policy? Yes, social media are very powerful and that power can be used to make a positive change as I mentioned before, but nowadays there are hundreds of companies worldwide that offer their services as bots to increase the chances of winning some politicians. From time to time there is drama because some journalists will track a politician or party which pays for the trolls on Internet but not many changes.

As long as we won't have any regulations which prohibit such behavior (and in Poland, there are no such a regulation, don't know about other countries), the problem will remain unsolved.

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- selling our data, stealing data by hackers

I was mentioning how well to business is to have personalized advertisement. Unfortunately, it means that our data is sold to some companies. Nothing that we publish is anonymous and in the case of conventional media, all that's shared by the users belongs to the portal. As far as it may not be the problem in my or your case, because we are just regular guys, if someone who would like to become a president or who would be a CEO of some huge company will publish something controversial, it can be used against of them in the future.

We risk also that our personal data will be stolen by hackers. We often share information about our phone numbers, emails, some people use one password to all the accounts - all that things in the hands of the wrong person may cost us access to the bank account or other serious problems.

- fake news

Like mentioned before, social media can help us to get the knowledge about any topic we want to educate ourselves but when we are looking in the wrong place, we can end the day with such "helpful" information like:

• the Earth is flat
• end of the world will be on Monday
• eating salad cause cancer
  Unfortunately, fake news is very present in social media and we all should look at the information published by other users with criticism, think about it few times, check the sources, look around to find the information on different websites.

- some media promote arguing

One word: Twitter, which I honestly hate.
It's not only twittering though. Most of the portals promote publications that increase activity without inspecting the quality of the comments and reactions. In the effect, the most controversial, dividing texts which causes fights in the comment sections are more visible than the others.

The great exception is steemit, which included reputation score. I truly love that solution and hope it could be in use in other places too. In that way, activity under the post is still important but when someone publishes something offensive, can be punished. That helps to keep the cultural conversation and make the place more welcoming for everyone.

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Thank you for reading. I hope you liked my list of advantages and disadvantages of social media. Of course, the list is not complete, so I am leaving it open. If you want to add something to it, write it down in the comment section.

Have a great day, y'all
@papi.mati