Is Social Media an Advantage or Disadvantage? | Teen Ink

Is Social Media an Advantage or Disadvantage?

April 17, 2016
By Sameens BRONZE, Lexington, Kentucky
Sameens BRONZE, Lexington, Kentucky
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Do you ever find yourself on social media for hours at a time? Many people argue different things and justify certain points in social media on ways to communicate. I feel that social media is a very important topic to discuss especially in today’s time where it has become so popular and a part of everyone's daily lives. There are many advantages and disadvantages to it. Social media has harmed our abilities to communicate with others. There are many reasons as to why such as it’s becoming unsafe, and it can cause people to use unprofessional grammar when doing things such as applying for a job.


Firstly, nowadays on social media there are so many people who pretend to be one person rather than who they actually are to get another person’s information, so we must be more careful in whom we interact with online. All over social media everyone is always talking, whether it’s for fun or business. So those who fake their identities cause a problem.  In the opinion editorial article, “Are teens sharing too much information online,” Nathan Miller says, “While we have the power to hold personal conversations with people from around the world, as if they are directly in front of us, we now have the responsibility to make sure that the person whom we are speaking to is who they say they are.” With this, it can be risky because talking to the wrong person on social media can lead to problems and can be dangerous for anyone whether it is an adult or teenager to get into a problem because of a small mistake they make on social media.


Another reason that social media has harmed our ways to communicate with others is that often times on things like email, or texting, people tend to use slang or shortcuts to their words or sentences, and it can create a bad impression on their employer, teacher, or anyone at all.  In the article, “R Grammar Gaffes Ruining the Language? Maybe not,” it says, “Managers are fighting an epidemic of grammar gaffes in the workplace. Such looseness with language can create bad impressions with clients, ruin marketing materials and cause communication errors, many managers say.” Any person making an important statement should use proper grammar and because of social media, we sometimes tend to use slang when we talk which can become a problem.

 

Some may argue that social media has helped our ability to communicate with others. In the article, “I Knew You Before I Met You: How Social Media Has Changed the Way We Communicate,” Jennifer Brannon Cox says, “With all its potential pitfalls, social media makes for a fascinating study in human communication. As even more people adopt social media as an important, if not primary, tool for communicating, study of its possibilities and impact will likely continue to take center stage as researchers grapple for a snapshot of these sites during their common age.” Social media does so many things in human communications for example, someone may say something online instead if saying it in person to whoever it is meant for in person, and it ruins those special memories and moments that really count in our lives. It makes people do things behind a screen rather than in person which could lead to other problems.


Even after this, some people may argue that there’s no need to study the importance of communication from social media because it is a waste of time. All in all, social media has harmed our ability to communicate for many reasons. After reading this and seeing my point of view on social media, what's yours? Do you think it helps us or doesn't? 


 


The author's comments:

My name is Sameen and I am a student a high school student. I like to volunteer in my free time and hangout with my friends. In the future I hope to do something in the medical field because it is something that really interests me.

This was an assigment in my english class, and I never thought much about it until we were asked to write about it but social media has become such a big part of everyone's daily lives, so it was something good to write about. Writing an op-ed on social media can really change what people think of it, and it gives the writer a good way to express his/her opinion and back it up with textual evidence.  


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