Technology and Social Media

Technology and social media have become one of the basic aspects of human life. Life without technology and social media is impossible for a lot of people.

Earlier, we used to use compasses and maps for finding directions or ways. But now, we use Google maps or our GPS. There are a lot of pros in technology and social media. Connecting with people, surfing in the internet, designing and playing games and much more.

People living in the present generation find it difficult to do certain activities without technology and social media. They have changed human lives in many ways. People who use technology and social media are affected both positively and negatively. Advantages include more attachment with friends, more means of communication, meeting new people from all around the world and much more. These advantages can be negative if people misuse or take advantage of others. Some include cyber bullying, threatening and posting of naked photographs.

Even though people constantly use technology and social media, both have negative impacts on every user. We know that attachment to other people in social media have a lot of negative impacts. It is difficult to identify people who are pretenders or frauds. According to Time,basically, pretenders behave friendly to the person, later he asks to do simple things,then it becomes even more difficult, next, they ask for photos orpersonal information and threaten the user with that. One of the application was the game Blue Whale.

According to Wikipedia, it is a 50 day period game in which the administrator prescribes you to do a series of duties that the players should complete. The player cannot quit the game because once you download it in your smartphone,all you personal information will be hacked by them. They ask the player to do activities like drawing a whale near your hand veinwith a sharp blade, to jump into the water if you don’t know how to swim and on the fiftieth day, they ask you to commit suicide. However, a lot of countries reported this and the administrators and the designers of the game were arrested. Professors in Child Mind Institute says that,technology and social media also leads to less interactions with family members and breaking bonds with them.

It leads to depression. Teens might behave violently in public which can affect their personality,self-esteem and etiquette. Teens are more distracted to social media and technology which causes the above problems. Even though both girls and boys use technology and social media, girls are more likely to be depressed than boys while using them. One of the causes is negative peer pressure.

“I created an Instagram account because my friends use it and they told me it was a great social networking application,” says Siya,an 8th grade student. One of the authors in Psychology Today stated, ?There are teens who listen to their friends and get into trouble, knowingly or unknowingly. Girls are socialized more to compare themselves to other people, girls in particular, to develop their identities, so it makes more vulnerable to the downside of all this,? says Dr.Steiner Adair who is a psychologist. They have also found out from the robust cross-cultural research that excess use of social media or online dating raises concern on girl’s body image, dieting, a drive for thinness and self-objectification which can lead to health problems.

Social media and technology also changes the personality of a girl and they become less interactive with the real world. So, girls are more prone to depression than boys because of the excess use of social media and technology. As mentioned, social media and technology might lead you through a wrong path. Both of them can affect the users emotionally, mentally or physically. Imagine a person posting a girl’s naked picture which she sent to a hacker. What would her parents, siblings, relatives, teachers and friends feel? If you were in her place, what would you do? Think about it.

Use technology and social media wisely and encourage others to do the same. That way, nobody wants to fear while using them. Together,make technology and social media a better and safer place to be in.