The effect of social media on society

The social media has really influenced our society. We live in a society where most people live their lives for the media. Social media no doubt has helped a lot of people and is positive in many ways but I must say that it is also misleading a lot of people. The social media has […]

The social media has really influenced our society. We live in a society where most people live their lives for the media. Social media no doubt has helped a lot of people and is positive in many ways but I must say that it is also misleading a lot of people. The social media has become a platform where people show off and brag about their wealth and achievements in negative ways. I say negative because such acts may make others want to compare themselves with those showing off which can result to unhealthy competition. The next issue is about family disputes and differences. Social media has become a platform where people feel they can solve their family disputes and problems. This also has negative influence on the society because people believe they have a massive ‘fan base’ which can help influence the solving of such quarrels. These ‘fans’ are not supposed to be running one’s marriage or dictating what happens in one’s home because sometimes such ‘fans’ give negative advice. The society now suffers from cyber harassment. Cyber bullying is increasing as the day goes by. We see such things happen on different social media platforms. These cyber harassments include carrying of fake news on social media about people, sending embarrassing messages, showing signs of bigotry, and posting personal information or pictures in a bid to hurt the victim. These cyber harassments may result to low self-esteem of such victims.

Another issue is addiction. Social media is addictive; some people spend their entire day on their mobile phones or other gadgets.   Most people learn some of what they practice via the media and they believe what they see as the right thing because they have seen ‘celebrities’ who are their role models do them and they want to do the same. With these acts, our society suffers from immorality and indecent dressing. Some of these celebrities are therefore helping to erode cherished moral values that families and religious institutions have long impacted on the young ones.

Furthermore, people now use social media to perpetuate a lot of evil acts. They see and use the media as a means of making money illegally. These people are what the society now refers to as ‘yahoo boys’. These yahoo boys dupe and swindle innocent people of their money. These issues need to be looked into for us to have a healthy society. Young people need to be well groomed to be better citizens. Social media should be used to promote good acts and not evil deeds.

Miss Susan Chioma Obasi wrote this piece from Abuja.