[ This post is a response to Anju’s post about the Advantages of Social Media ]
Social Media, is a term much in circulation among young and old alike. In a world, where everything seems to be so fantasizing social media, takes a stand out of the box and becomes a means of survival. We tend to go just by the positives of this media and forget that even this social media has an evil face.
How old are you? Where do you come from? Do you need to give any such information so that you become eligible to use this mode of communication?
Accessible to all.
Facebook, Twitter, My Space all this are so user friendly, that they connect with the whole mass. Such an easy random connection is sure to have it’s road to ruin, don’t you think so? The very fact, that it is open to all makes it vulnerable to many depicts. From a kid to an old man everybody can use it with the same ease. No restrictions, no limitations!
Out there, many of you would surely argue that it connects you to the rest of the world and to some extent maybe this is true. But most of it is “false sense of association“, you might think that you’ve got a best friend online but what if such a person doesn’t even exist? This may even lead to you being drawn away from the real world where the relations are much more deeper and deliberate.
Cyber Bullying
Now who among you, have not heard of cyber bullying? One word, which shouts out loud in this world of networks. Okay, so what is it? This means,the use of the information technology to continually harm or harass people to disturb them in all ways especially mentally.
The Catherine’s Facebook attack or the Ryan Halligan case, all led to horrifying outcomes, leading to physical violence and death of the individual respectively. This is like a drop in the ocean, many more cases have been reported and many gone unnoticed.
Privacy
When it comes to public media, your private life becomes public thus, giving ample of chance for the misuse of your data that includes your pictures, location and others. You might have heard about the syndicate in Malaysia who turned rich by using photographs of Asian girls for their call girl service via Facebook. “So, you never know where will you find your photographs!”
Now, you would surely argue about the privacy options but frankly, how many of you really care about it?
Appetite
This is an interesting fact and an hilarious one too, could you ever imagine that it alters your appetite too. Yeah, your appetite. According to women health, ‘food porn’ stimulates the brain reward center and compels viewers to overeat. Or think of the times when you just had your dinner and saw some delicious food pictures, it does trigger your hunger, doesn’t it?
Productivity
Productivity of a firm can also decrease. You may say that, promoting your products online increases it’s supply but, what about those employees who are more interested in what their friend’s are posting online than these advertisements, in this way it “proves to be a major distraction for the process of production.“
Crowd Mentality
How many of you have had your own opinion on any issue pertaining online? The post which has a 100k likes will be liked by you to even if it’s not according to your ideologies. It messes with your ability to think independently and thus comes in the mob mentality. It whimsically creates public opinion on an ongoing issue.
Amour Propre
How many of you were happy when your profile picture got 200 likes? But what was your feeling when you saw your best friend getting a 400? Yes, it did hurt you, it hurt your self esteem. You felt broken and low and maybe went into depression also. This is what makes many end their life.
So, now you enough reasons to believe that this media has an evil face. A face which goes undiscovered by many of us.
Live talks are much above the posts on your wall!
[Image Credits : business2community.com]