Shabreen Manahil
In this modern and advance era, social media is playing a vital role in our lives. Whatever and where ever is happening in the world, is displayed in front of us on screens. Social media has turned the world into a global village due to which every minor information can easily be transferred from one place to another. Not only the information but the cultures have also been transmitting rapidly. Social Media includes many social app i.e. WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat and YouTube etc. The word “social” is related to society. And social media is related to the use of media within the society.
The advent of social media in late 1990s has tremendously changed our lifestyles. Society consists of individuals and in this advanced and technological time, it is being used by every individual irrespective of age, gender, class. Through social media, every individual in the society is being effected emotionally, mentally and physically. The effect is both positive and negative or maybe neutral. The use of social media by every member of family has weakened the strong family bonding. It has also effected the studies of students. Hence, deteriorating their mental and physical health. Moreover, during this covid-19 time, the use of social media has increased to an alarming extent . And without this, our lives are fully stagnant.
It is not wrong to say that only society is being affected by the use of social media. However, social media also changes its dimensions according to the individuals or society. For example, if an individual searches for a particular stuff on social media, then he would automatically be given the suggestions of the same stuff which he used to search. And also when a large group of people or almost maximum of the society searches for a particular thing then that becomes a trend on social media. Whenever a promo of a drama is released, which attracts the people through its content, then people start to search for its episodes. When these get uploaded on media, that drama becomes a trend within that society. This is how social media changes its dimension according to the interests of its users. So social media and society have direct relation with each other.
There are three classes within every society i.e. lower, middle and upper class. In our society, a huge class difference is created due to the use of social media. For example, elite class usually shows off their social status by sharing every minute detail either on their WhatsApp statuses or images posted on Instagram. It causes imbalance in society and unrest for the middle and lower class .An inferiority complex in low class, and superiority complex in upper class is developed. Therefore, social media badly and negatively affects class status in the society.
Within the society there are different professional bodies which include students, teachers, doctors, businessmen, economist and electricians etc. who use social media and it has positive impact on the role of these people. For example, it has been observed in every society that students in their free time use to make video log (vlogs), use tik tok and share their activities on You Tube. They play a role of a student and a vlogger as well. Not only students but other grownups have also adopted this practice. People share information, posts and images on Instagram and Facebook. Hence using social media 24 hours a day. Similarly, the women especially house-wives who are not allowed to work outside are also taking advantage of social media. Some of them upload their cooking, baking and make-up videos on You Tube or Instagram and earn money. Similarly, some women have started online business of selling clothes through WhatsApp Statuses and have become a bread and butter earner of their family. This is how their role has doubled, they are house-wives as well as business women. In this way, social media has a positive impact on individuals of the society.
Social media has also negatively changed the role of individuals. There are many dramas, movies and music available on social media (especially on You Tube) in which usage of drugs and criminal acts are shown. For example, It is shown that how to overcome depression and stress by using drugs and how to fulfill your basic needs by criminal acts. Such content attracts youngsters and also adults who suffer depression. And their role would convert into a criminal or drug addict.
The use of social media has now penetrated in education and business sector. In education field, we can see an online learning system which uses social apps i.e. Google classroom, meet, and zoom etc. Most of the countries have already adopted this system of learning. For example, in Pakistan, online learning system has been adopted after the spread of Covid-19. Students and teachers interact through the use of social media and share opinions and ideas. Many students make online groups in order to improve their performance and advance their learning process. Furthermore, the use of social media increases the general knowledge of students along with their academic learning.
Similarly, in business activities, through the platform of social media, businessmen get quick response and immediate feedback of their product. And they also get to know that what their customer is demanding and they supply their products accordingly. For example, Daraz Shopping app is running its business through social media platform where selling of products and quick responses of customers have made this shopping app popular and successful.
Social media is also providing a platform for film industry to release their promos of dramas, films and movies and increase their viewers. Similarly, it also provides platform for the clothing brands shoes brands and food chains to promote their business through advertisements. Hence social media has a positive impact on education field and business activities.
There are many advantages of social media. But through the technological advancements, there is a serious threat to its users. The hackers are now alert all the time to hack personal data of individuals. There is a lack of privacy, misuse of personal information and data which threatens the personal life of individual.
In a nutshell, social media has positive as well as negative impacts on society. It depends only on the mentality of people how they want to use social media. If they want to increase their knowledge, be aware of the happenings around the world, watching interesting and satisfying videos, then it means that they are being affected positively. However, if they are searching for illegal acts (crimes, drug usage and smuggling etc.) or watching videos illustrating bad content, then it means that they are being affected negatively. Now it is in our hand to use social media productively or destructively.
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Written by : Shabreen Manahil
Department: International Relations
Bachelors in International Relations IR
Fatima Jinnah Women University
