Bilal Ahmad

Social media has grown tremendously in the last few years. From 2006 onwards the growth rate is unexpectedly very high. Specially Facebook and Twitter have grown much faster and captured millions of users in just a few years. The way technology is growing, it is obvious that more and more people are going to grasp its benefits. It has brought a lot of advantages for the society. From progressed nations to under-developed countries, every nation is utilizing the power of social media to enhance life and use it for the bitterness of the people.

However, on the other hand it has also affected the society in the negative way. Just like anything which can be used for both good and bad, social media have also provided the negative and positive ways for the people. It is all about the usage and getting things done positively by using the power of social media. It is in the hands of the user to use to its advantage. But willingly or unwillingly it can still have negative impacts on the users. Today in this article I am going to discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of the social media for the society.

Let’s start with the disadvantages first, because the advantages are numerous and everything is perceived to have a positive effect unless it is used negatively.

10 Disadvantages of Social Media for the Society

1:- Cyberbullying – According to a report published by PewCenter.org most of the children have become victims of the cyberbulling over the past. Since anyone can create a fake account and do anything without being traced, it has become quite easy for anyone to bully on the Internet. Threats, intimidation messages and rumors can be sent to the masses to create discomfort and chaos in the society. Check out the 6 cyberbullying stories that turned into suicide stories.

2: – Hacking – Personal data and privacy can easily be hacked and shared on the Internet. Which can make financial losses and loss to personal life. Similarly, identity theft is another issue that can give financial losses to anyone by hacking their personal accounts. Several personal twitter and Facebook accounts have been hacked in the past and the hacker had posted materials that have affected the individuals personal lives. This is one of the dangerous disadvantages of the social media and every user is advised to keep their personal data and accounts safe to avoid such accidents.









3:- Addiction – The addictive part of the social media is very bad and can disturb personal lives as well. The teenagers are the most affected by the addiction of the social media. They get involved very extensively and are eventually cut off from the society. It can also waste individual time that could have been utilized by productive tasks and activities.

4:- Fraud and Scams – Several examples are available where individuals have scammed and commit fraud through the social media. For example, this list contains the 5 social media scams that are done all the time.

5:- Security Issues – Now a day’s security agencies have access to people personal accounts. Which makes the privacy almost compromised. You never know when you are visited by any investigation officer regarding any issue that you mistakenly or unknowingly discussed over the internet.

6:- Reputation – Social media can easily ruin someone’s reputation just by creating a false story and spreading across the social media. Similarly businesses can also suffer losses due to bad reputation being conveyed over the social media.

7:- Cheating and Relationship Issues – Most of the people have used the social media platform to propose and marry each other. However, after some time they turn to be wrong in their decision and part ways. Similarly, couples have cheated each other by showing the fake feelings and incorrect information.

8:- Health Issues – The excess usage of social media can also have a negative impact on the health. Since exercise is the key to lose weight, most of the people get lazy because of the excessive use of social networking sites. Which in result brings disorder in the routine life. This research by discovery will shock you by showing how bad your health can be affected by the use of the social media.

9:- Social Media causes death – Not just by using it, but by following the stunts and other crazy stuffs that are shared on the internet. For example bikers doing the unnecessary stunts, people doing the jump over the trains and other life threatening stuffs. For example in this video 14 year old from Mumbai was doing stunts on a running train which caused his death. These types of stunts are performed by the teenagers because of the successful stunts made and shared over the social media.

10:- Glamorizes Drugs and Alcohol – One of the disadvantages of the social media is that people start to follow others who are wealthy or drug addicted and share their views and videos on the web. Which eventually inspires others to follow the same and get addicted to the drugs and alcohol.

10 Advantages of Social Media for the Society

1:- Connectivity – The first and main advantage of the social media is connectivity. People from anywhere can connect with anyone. Regardless of the location and religion. The beauty of social media is that you can connect with anyone to learn and share your thoughts.

2:- Education – Social media has a lot of benefits for the students and teachers. It is very easy to educate from others who are experts and professionals via the social media. You can follow anyone to learn from him/her and enhance your knowledge about any field. Regardless of your location and education background you can educate yourself, without paying for it.

3:- Help – You can share your issues with the community to get help and giddiness. Whether it is helping in term of money or in term of advice, you can get it from the community you are connected with.

4:- Information and Updates – The main advantage of the social media is that you update yourself from the latest happenings around in the world. Most of the time, Television and print media these days are biased and does not convey the true message. With the help of social media you can get the facts and true information by doing some research.

5:- Promotion – Whether you have an offline business or online, you can promote your business to the largest audience. The whole world is open for you, and can promote to them. This makes the businesses profitable and less expensive, because most of the expenses made over a business are for advertising and promotion. This can be decreased by constantly and regularly involving on the social media to connect with the right audience.

6:- Noble Cause – Social media can also be used for the noble causes. For example, to promote an NGO, social welfare activities and donations for the needy people. People are using social media for donation for needy people and it can be a quick way to help such people.

7:- Awareness – Social media also create awareness and innovate the way people live. It is the social media which has helped people discover new and innovative stuffs that can enhance personal lives. From farmers to teachers, students to lawyers every individual of the society can benefit from the social media and its awareness factor.

8:- Helps Govt and Agencies Fight Crime- It is also one of the advantages of the social media that it helps Governments and Security Agencies to spy and catch criminals to fight crime.

9:- Improves Business Reputation – Just like it can ruin any business reputation, It can also improve business sales and reputation. Positive comments and sharing about a company can help them with sales and goodwill. Since people are free to share whatever they want on the social media, it can impact positively when good words are shared.

10:- Helps in Building Communities – Since our world has different religions and beliefs. Social media helps in building and participating in the community of own religion and believes to discuss and learn about it. Similarly, people of different communities can connect to discuss and share related stuffs. For example Game lover can join games related communities, car lover can join communities related to cars and so on.

These are some of the advantages and disadvantages of social media for the society. However, these are the enough advantages and disadvantages to decide which way to go on the social media.