Social Media Is For Idiots…Or Are Idiots Just Using It?
Social media is something that most people nowadays rely on for a source of information, speaking their opinions or being noisy at other peoples lives. There’s always going to be the online battle of is it made for idiots or are there just idiots using it? I fear this question will never be answered as it is just a matter of opinion.
As a young adult I have a love-hate relationship with social media. Some days I will sit there and spend my afternoons searching through the apps, looking at what people are saying or what pictures they are posting, even giving a few things a like. However, I do have a tendency of closing apps due to getting boring after a while, or because of something I’ve seen that I either disagree with or that I don’t like, only to go back on later.
One of the useful sides of social medias is that it’s good for new businesses as they can go onto something like Facebook and create a page to promote their work. Businesses can also make adverts that can pop up to promote their page. As well as this social media is a good place to find out the latest news stories as people will share them and you can get an insight onto others opinions about trivial events that are happening across the world. This is useful as it gives a wider interpretation on what is happening in order to help someone understand what is happening or even consider a different side to the story that they never thought of.
It’s not only teenagers and young adults that use it. Recently I’ve seen a lot of the older generation starting to make accounts. A lot of grandparents nowadays have a social media account to keep in contact with their family members that they may not see often. While they never really know what they are doing, the thought is there and they try their best. Many times I’ve been round my grandparents house and have had to help them with either their Facebook or Skype accounts to show them how to do certain things, or how to find what they want. This however, does not make them idiots based on the fact they don’t know how to use it and you can’t be angry with the older generation. There are some adults who are unsure on how to use certain sites and the same goes for some teenagers as well. It’s something that takes a while to get used to.
One thing that social media does that is a pro and a con is that you can see where people are at certain times, whether that be because they have checked into somewhere or they have left their location on. Due to updates that have happened on certain social media this is now possible. For parents this is useful as children often forget to text them where they are making them worry. Often I have seen these ‘idiots’ that leave their location on so anyone can see where you are making it easier to track you down. This can be dangerous as that means a complete stranger can see what you are up to. Some apps also only work if your location is on so you should always make sure that your location is only on when using the app and not on any other and that it turns off once the app is closed.
However, I can see where the idea that social media is just for idiots comes from. When you go online you don’t expect to see horrible or hateful comments by people online known as ‘trolls’. I’ve never understood why someone would comment rude things on a post of someones that they don’t know just because they didn’t agree with what was being said. They use social media as a platform to share their ideas expecting everyone to agree but only come to find people don’t. It comes back to the saying every mother tells their children, if you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything at all. With this in mind if you do find that people are being rude you can either just choose to report them or block them instead. It’s the easiest option and then after you can carry on with what you would normally do online.
Although there are a lot of bad things about social media and people complain , inevitably they will still carry on using it. Social media is something that people put up with because they are used to having it. At the end of the day people will always be complaining about something. Social media isn’t that bad, it just depends on what you use it for.
With thanks to Louise Parker.
