Social Media: The Double-Edged Sword — Exploring the Pros and Cons of Online Platforms
The evolution of society
Initially introduced in the 1970s for scientific research purposes, the Internet was primarily intended for a community of academics to share information. However, over the years, it has evolved into an integral part of modern-day society with diverse uses beyond its original scope. This is evident as 97.8% of the population in the UK uses the internet. So, it is important to understand this technology.
The link below shows the sheer magnitude and frequency of usage of various social media platforms.
The improvements in communication
The most prominent benefit of the internet realm is the revolution of communication both in a professional and social aspect. Talking to loved ones or colleagues has never been easier as there is a plethora of messaging services an example being WhatsApp. For a teenager that is an international student, life was made much easier with the addition of social platforms. It has given me the capability to communicate with friends and family from halfway across the world. This is also a very common viewpoint others share, an example can be seen below:
The writer of the blog mentioned how social media has helped in keeping in touch and keeping up to date with relatives and their county.
Covid-19 has been a defining moment for me and countless others, significantly impacting our lives. The negative effects of the virus were mitigated by social media platforms since loneliness was reduced with friends being only a click away. I was also in my final year of my A-levels, where I utilized Microsoft Teams (like many others) to connect with my teachers and facilitate my learning. Therefore, Covid-19 did not hinder studies as social media helped many students continue to the next stage of their careers.
Business is business
The inclusion of social media in a business could help catalyse the increase in productivity and effectiveness in certain areas. Improvements that come with social media in business could include:
- Positive effect on marketing
- Cheaper advertising
- Easier and fairer recruitment process
- Increased knowledge exchange
Furthermore, only 17% of employees believe that social media reduces productivity in companies from Denmark.
Remote work has also been introduced with the development of social platforms, giving companies the ability to keep and attract talent. This also has created more opportunities in the gig economy, where freelance work has become more viable and sustainable. The gig economy is set to increase by four times in size by 2026 in South Korea. The increase in size could be explained by the use of digital media, allowing freelancers to create and maintain relationships with customers. The introduction of artificial intelligence in the workplace has also allowed for an increase in the productivity and efficiency of the business.
On the other hand, society favours people who are more technologically proficient due to the digital divide. Between 75% to 90% of jobs require computer use with earnings increasing up to 10% by acquiring digital skills. So many opportunities favour the tech-savvy, leaving you at a disadvantage if you are not.
The true cost of social media
Social media has also been correlated to issues faced in modern-day society. The most prominent is mental health. The BBC reported a “steep rise” in self-harm among girls. Research completed between 2011 and 2014 found that the self-harm rate increased by 68% over the three years the research was on. This coincided with the exponential increase in popularity of social media platforms for example the number of active monthly Twitter users quadrupled between 2011 and 2014. Social media has also been blamed for other mental health issues such as “Snapchat dysmorphia”, a body image disorder caused by filters on apps such as Snapchat.
Misinformation is also known to be spread due to social media. A popular example is “Pizzagate”. Large groups of people who were convinced that members of the democratic party were running a human-trafficking ring in a pizzeria on various platforms formed. People even came armed to the pizzeria, attempting to save people that they thought were being human trafficked. This proves that the spread of misinformation due to social media could prove to be detrimental as society becomes increasingly polarised.
Behind the curtains
Why are all social media sites free? Netflix documentary “The social dilemma” covers this topic extensively. In the documentary, ex-tech employees, such as Tristan Harris, reveal how billion-dollar tech companies like Facebook operate. The social media company’s business model is based on retaining the screen time of the user, disregarding their health. These staggering screen times lead to high revenue from advertisers.
“There are only two industries that call thier customers ‘users’: illegal drugs and software” — Edward Tufte
Companies, such as Google, program algorithms and AI to predict what content you would want to consume, based on your internet history to keep you on the app. This is allowed to occur due to the lack of regulations and consideration of ethics in the new technology. The neglect of care for users propels and consolidates negative effects seen in society.
“We’ll sneakily just manipulate you because you are a computing node” — Jaron Lanier
Conclusion
The effects of social media can be seen to be detrimental to society, however, it is nothing that can’t be fixed. As an aware ‘digital citizen’, you can be informed, and inform others, of how the digital world operates. Also, double-check your sources as critical thinking is needed since information could be false. Experts recommend turning off notifications and using Qwant to avoid data harvesting. This may aid the internet to become a helpful, rather than harmful, tool as it was intended to be.
Reflection
Description and initial feelings
Initially, I chose to take the course because the implications of the internet and technology were never taught in school and as an undergraduate in materials science, I have not explored the vast impacts. During the course, I felt very overwhelmed since I never expected the internet to have such deep roots in society and what that may entail (the good and the bad). Also, since it is an online course that covers a very extensive topic, I found myself contemplating the weekly topics in my free time.
Evaluation and Analysis
Since I was brought up with the internet, I took it for granted and never really thought about it. As a science student, I am aware of the positive impact technology could have. However, from this course, I am now conscious of the negatives. Technology could be seen as good at face value, however, once you dig deeper, you start to uncover the negative by-products. An example of this is Uber and Airbnb which are sharing services. At face value, it can be seen as positive since it is eco-friendly and cost-effective. However, Uber has negatively affected taxi services and Airbnb has pushed away locals who cannot afford to live there.
The internet has also brought a whole new side to ethics and the dangers one could face. An example of this is the leakage of information seen in the case of Mossack Fonseca. Covering these topics gave me new concepts to consider which expanded my view of the world.
As I completed my coursework, I found that my writing capabilities have improved both in quality and speed. This is due to digisoc1 and digisoc2 requiring critical analysis of different sources and concepts. This has allowed me to develop opinions on certain concepts that are balanced and unbiased. This has also allowed me to develop a new style of writing that is somewhat informal which is not what I am used to since most of my writing consists of lab reports.
The fact that the course is completely online was challenging. However, it forced you to explore new concepts by yourself which further improves your critical thinking and your understanding of the internet.
Conclusion
Although I initially felt overwhelmed, the course has left me feeling more confident as I traverse my way through the ‘digital world’ as my understanding of technology has deepened. This course also covered possible recruitment methods which is very beneficial since I will be looking for a job soon.
The course has improved my critical analysis skills and exposed me to concepts that I am not familiar with. This is very beneficial for scientists as it allows them to think at a deeper level about the impacts when developing new technology. This would allow for new technology to be more effective in implementation since negatives are considered at a deeper level. This skill is very beneficial to me if I do continue to pursue science.
