Facebook! Instagram! Whatsapp! Twitter!
People start drooling over these fantastic platforms and look at them with great pleasure. What if we are challenged to keep our mobile phones out of reach for a unit of time? We will get messy, restless, or brainsick. This is not just because of a simple electronic gadget, but the reason behind this uneasiness is social media.
Social media works DUALISTICALLY. It plays the role of either effective change aka activism or retardness. It sometimes plays a deleterious effect on us, especially the youth of our country. Moreover; it is so often precarious for children under the age group of 5-10 . They get confined to the sites like Youtube where they watch anything. They also keep surfing through Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat where they chat and sometimes get overindulged due to which sometimes unwanted crimes are done them. One of the threats is porn sites where they involve themselves too much; consequences of which are aggression towards women, and negative behavior towards female colleagues & friends. It also leads to addiction. Some games are also life-threatening like Blue Whale etc.
On the other edge, social media creates a platform to earn, and communicate with friends and relatives who live far away and gives access to educational support from the sites like telegram where study material is easily accessible and group discussions are also available for students and business employees. Law enforcement uses social media to create awareness and prosecute criminals. Social media also plays the role of a stage for new toddlers and upcoming talents. It allows job seekers to find work. It facilitates socio-economic as well as political change. It not only brings down the isolation of senior citizens and also helps them to create their own web . During COVID lockdown it helped to increase the consciousness of the crowd towards health, hygiene, and vaccination. Social media has given new dimensions to the RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.
Everything has its assets and liabilities. It is based on our users to have a check on our utilization of these social sites . We can set reminders for the usage of mobile phones. We can also have counseling sessions for the addicted ones . Parents must devote their time to their children so that they can escape from this trap . Moreover; we must teach them how to use the internet, and what are its pros and cons . Hence we can term social media as a double-edged sword