Impacts of Social Media on Society: Progress or Peril?

Introduction

Discourse on the impact of social media on society is a hot topic in all parts of the world. There are a lot of people who rely on it in their daily lives. However, many others object to their use. Although social media has become an integral tool of recent life, its use is linked to immeasurable concerns when it comes to family values, business activities, and education.

Family Values

Social media is significant in inculcating family values. Research reveals that social media channels support stronger bonds between families that are miles apart by encouraging them to interact more and stay in touch even when separated by their jobs (Nnamene 2021, p. 387). At the same time, social media has increased breaches and inordinate uses, causing many family values to be entirely lost. Social media entry was thought to engender better family bonding, but, instead, it has withdrawn traditional vital discussions, denied members time for noble activities, and gave children early exposure to adulthood materials (Nnamene 2021, p. 388). Today, it is normal for parents to spend too much time on social media at the expense of family interactions, as do their children. Therefore, the balanced use of social media is necessary since it can enhance or destroy family values.

Business Activities

Social media for business is no longer optional. Businesses are employing social media channels to create market reach, brand awareness, and customer loyalty both within and overseas (Chin 2023, para. 1). Likewise, hackers are taking advantage of social media, exposing companies to increased risks of cybercrime. For example, social networking platforms can broaden a company’s attack surface by disclosing sensitive information or employee relationships that hackers may leverage to carry out phishing schemes, credential theft, identity theft, and several other scams (Chin 2023, para. 4). Given the possibility of account penetration, the key commercial cybersecurity concerns provided by social media are social engineering attacks, theft of personal information, and malware proliferation. Thus, even if beneficial to businesses, the fast development of social media usage has left commercial enterprises uninformed of the numerous cyber threats linked to social media.

Education

Social media play a critical role in education due to easy access to technology. Students have numerous options to better their education and have access to the most up-to-date knowledge by interacting with academic communities and other institutions of learning (Kolhar, Kazi, & Alameen 2021, p. 2216). Equally, social media use reduces the amount of time learners spend on academic activities. According to research, only one percent of the students surveyed utilized social media for educational reasons, whereas a large proportion of about 35 to 43 percent exploited it for recreational purposes to interact with their peers and surf profiles on social networks to pass the time (Kolhar, Kazi, & Alameen 2021, p. 2218). Students spend a lot of their study time chatting with their friends and following strangers. Hence, social media use in education should be monitored to offer the best outcome.

Conclusion

Social media is valuable and perilous for society. Although this technology is a good tool for distant communication, it has eroded family values. Then, as beneficial as it is for winning customer loyalty, social media exposes businesses to cybercrime. Furthermore, even if this channel is critical for modern learning, it carries the attention of the learners, leading to poor performance. Therefore, a public awareness campaign is necessary to warn, educate, and inform people about its mindful use.

Reference List

Chin, K 2023, The impact of social media on cybersecurity, Upguard RSS. Available from: <https://www.upguard.com/blog/the-impact-of-social-media-on-cybersecurity>. [28 June 2023].

Kolhar, M, Kazi, RN & Alameen, A 2021, ‘Effect of social media use on learning, social interactions, and sleep duration among university students,’ Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences, vol. 28, no 4, pp. 2216–2222, viewed 28 June 2023, DOI:10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.01.010.

Nnamene, EC 2021, ‘Impact of social media on family values,’ Sapientia Foundation Journal of Education, Sciences and Gender Studies, vol. 3, no 1. Available from: <https://www.sfjesgs.com/index.php/SFJESGS/article/view/159>. [28 June 2023].