Has Social Media Made Society More Informed or More Divided?

[Frankolala]

It's the people that are using social media wrongly that are making it look as if social media is bad but it is not because it still has her own good side. I will take the good side of social media and forget about the bad side. Anyone that allows people to use social media to put enemity between them and their loved ones don't understand love. If people cannot get you face to face, they will use social media and if you fall for it, they have achieved their goal.

[Solodoski]

In my opinion I think social media has more positives than negative effects. Social media has turned the world into a global village, which makes communications easier for people, no matter the distance between them. It has also provide a lot of job opportunities for people, like the content creators etc. It has also become a mean access to information to the people,  so I think these are some of the few positives of social media.
Talking about social media being a means of spreading fake news and all whatnot,  I believe that all news should be verified before being spread, aside from that, it still does not take a way the positives of social media,  so like I mentioned earlier,  I believe social media has done more good than harm.

[Saltysugar99]

Here I will not give the entire blame to social media. It has both benefits and harms, but who will benefit and who will be harmed will depend on how responsibly the person uses social media. Now many things have become easier due to social media. Through it, people are getting entertainment, spending their free time, having conversations with friends despite the distance, and some people consider social media as a platform for online business. But in between, some isolated incidents also happen. Now, if a person sees any news and understands it wrongly without justifying it, then in this case, that person has believed the wrong news due to irresponsibility and carelessness. And if he reacts immediately because of that, it will not be right for him. Therefore, social media should be used consciously so that he does not suffer any kind of harm. And one should not believe it immediately after seeing any info news or video. One should find out more authentic sources and then believe it. Over all, social media has been beneficial so far. The harm that is happening is due to personal wrong decisions and unconscious use. I don't think it's logical to directly blame social media here. It's the problem of the person using it.

[Unknown Op]

Social media has a good and bad side of it and it is those that make use of it that do the good and bad, apart of false information that spread so fast in the social media, some persons has also been making use of different social media platforms to do their scam activities, for example telegram, this particular messaging app has done more bad than good to the society, although some persons are now aware of scammers antics in that app, personally,I do not take any news from face book serious even in x unless it a verified handle because Facebook is one of the apps that spread fake news very fast, however, authentic information are also gotten from fb but the lies in that app is mind blowing.

We cannot just blame social media itself main issue is how social media is being used rather than whether it is being used on mobile or on computer or any other device. While using social media from mobile phones, it is very difficult to disconnect because it is always within reach of everyone but people also find it difficult to disconnect and are distracted from computers as well. It is true that bullying and division were also in existence long before presence of social media. It has just shown opinion of the people and amplified existence of conflict on higher level, so people become more aware of what is going on around them. It is also used for getting information and connecting with the others.

[Doll2233]

If I'm not mistaking I must say social media is the best thing that has ever happened to humanity trust me, though it consist of the good, the bad, and the ugly, but I think the good side have the better part of it, before social media before you could get an information abroad you will have to step out to get a news paper or tune to your TV station to get an information abroad, but with the help of social media even before your TV station can carry it you might have seen it from either X, Facebook, or Instagram, so to me social media is considered to be the best thing that has happened to the world.

True, social media has made the information access very easier and faster as compared to the past but because people can learn about everything that is happening anywhere in the world within seconds without waiting for television or newspapers. But  I don't think that social media is completely the best thing that has ever happened to humanity. Because with the same speed that is used to spread information can also spread rumours, manipulated videos, misleading information and fake news. People can also follow only those who share their views creating an echo chamber that increases division. Social media has definitely made society more connected. Provided greater access to information but it has also exposed the more information that does not always mean being better informed.

[Vod]

A few weeks ago I researched consumer blenders using Google.  Last night I asked Gemini for some blender smoothie recipes.   Today I watched a Youtube ad for a Ninja Smoothie Blender.     I'm more likely to buy another Ninja blender now because I'll never see ads for another kind.

The more something specializes, the smaller their community gets.  People who talk about other kinds of blenders will never see the brands I do, so we'll start to defend our choices instead of the features they have.  AI will make this worse by scraping all our conversations and reminding us every time we do anything online.

[Tonimez]

Social media is a two way tool that is both good and bad but because of the good aspects, you can not displace it or undermine its relevance. The information we see on social media depends on the user who is behind the information. There are two types of social media users, the good social media users and the bad social media users. The good social media users use social media to disseminate proper information and promote good news and real updates. These set of people verify their information before reposting it, this way they don't share fake information. However, bad social media users use social media to share public misinformations. They don't verify information before reposting and these people also originate fake information and share to other users.

Many people have social media as their source of income, this has helped to reduce the poverty in the society and raise many millionaires and billionaires everyday. There are many benefits from social media as it has helped to mitigate damages that some natural disasters could have caused.

[Jasmyne]

I won’t really say it has caused more harm than good, because if social media leave our space today it wouldn’t help at all. Social media has it advantages and disadvantages, it will affect us negatively if we want it to affect us that way. By the time people start believing that not everything on social media is true, that’s when they will stop being influenced with everything on the social media space, both good and bad.

[Taricoins]

Social media has been helpful in many ways to humans for example, social media has made it possible for the fast spreading of news, people can start up small business through social media, social media have made it possible for communities to organize charity work and raise awareness for important issues.

In another way social media has also caused harm to the society for example, social media has made false information to spread very fast thereby causing issues between people, social media has also made bullying and harassment very common, social media has also destroyed the unity in a family, if you check in many families a lot of them don't communicate with each other anymore because of social media.

So has social media caused more harm than good in our society?

I think everything has an advantage and a disadvantage and most time we focus on the disadvantage. For one the one thing I like about social media is the platform it creates for youth to earn [content creators] and facts still remain that some families will always fall apart regardless of social media. The biggest issue I have is this cyber bullying.

Another plus for the social media is that it has create and avenue for people from different  spheres of the world to connect and some even get married.

[Callido]

I won’t really say it has caused more harm than good, because if social media leave our space today it wouldn’t help at all. Social media has it advantages and disadvantages, it will affect us negatively if we want it to affect us that way. By the time people start believing that not everything on social media is true, that’s when they will stop being influenced with everything on the social media space, both good and bad.

Are we going to blame social media, or are we going to blame ourselves for allowing social media to affect our lives? I blame people who use social media for the wrong reason, we cannot generalize the effect of social media for everyone, the impact has good and bad, the decision on how we want to use it as separate individuals is what matters. For me, I think social media has done more good than bad, and the bad by people who choose to use it in that way.

[Franctoshi]

Social media has been helpful in many ways to humans for example, social media has made it possible for the fast spreading of news, people can start up small business through social media, social media have made it possible for communities to organize charity work and raise awareness for important issues.

In another way social media has also caused harm to the society for example, social media has made false information to spread very fast thereby causing issues between people, social media has also made bullying and harassment very common, social media has also destroyed the unity in a family, if you check in many families a lot of them don't communicate with each other anymore because of social media.

So has social media caused more harm than good in our society?

The world is now a global village with the help of social media, So from my perspective, I kind of think it has made the society become more informed rather than being divided, because with the help of social you can know or even see what is happening in the US, Europe, Africa, Asia or any part of the world you want to and just by searching the information on social media and a video of it will pop up or an information regarding that which you want to know.

False information yes, but it's in you to choose what you digest, because you don't have to agree to everything without doing a proper research, else you will get fed by wrong information, you have to filter whatsoever information you hear and take in the right information.

[Saltysugar99]

I won’t really say it has caused more harm than good, because if social media leave our space today it wouldn’t help at all. Social media has it advantages and disadvantages, it will affect us negatively if we want it to affect us that way. By the time people start believing that not everything on social media is true, that’s when they will stop being influenced with everything on the social media space, both good and bad.

During this time, I have seen many people who do not use social media much. Even I myself do not spend much time on social media. Now social media also controls people's behavior. Nothing in social media is under your control anymore. Through social media, you are making your own mental state worse by various types of negative content. In this way, negative content creates more emotional reactions than positive content. If you repeatedly see crime, relationship failure, financial crisis, luxury lifestyle of other people, then your own life responsibility, relationship with relatives or family and the main aim of life can change in all these important matters. And that change is actually in the negative direction. We should all use social media for news ,learning ,communication or some entertainment in our free time at this moment. We should not  give more importance in Social media  and should not waste time on all these things.

[Johnlomape]

It's the people that are using social media wrongly that are making it look as if social media is bad but it is not because it still has her own good side. I will take the good side of social media and forget about the bad side. Anyone that allows people to use social media to put enemity between them and their loved ones don't understand love. If people cannot get you face to face, they will use social media and if you fall for it, they have achieved their goal.

The creation of social media was for the sharing of information but what we are seeing now is absolutely the opposite of what we are expecting to see in this new generation that will rather share their naked bodies on camera than to focus on their books and learn to get information that will enhance their knowledge about what they needed to know. The first thing the government need to do is to reduce the access of children on social media due to their easy exposures from peer groups and school friends.

[Gerdino]

Social media has it's own advantages and disadvantages on society. News don't take time to circulate anymore because of the help of social media but sometimes these informations that are being spread could be false. Social media has made us informed in so many areas of life ranging from economics, politics, education and entertainment generally. It's benefits can not be overlooked but inability to control what goes out usually is the downside and everyone has access.

[Supreme Donvic]

It's the people that are using social media wrongly that are making it look as if social media is bad but it is not because it still has her own good side. I will take the good side of social media and forget about the bad side. Anyone that allows people to use social media to put enemity between them and their loved ones don't understand love. If people cannot get you face to face, they will use social media and if you fall for it, they have achieved their goal.

The creation of social media was for the sharing of information but what we are seeing now is absolutely the opposite of what we are expecting to see in this new generation that will rather share their naked bodies on camera than to focus on their books and learn to get information that will enhance their knowledge about what they needed to know. The first thing the government need to do is to reduce the access of children on social media due to their easy exposures from peer groups and school friends.

Social media has actually turned to something else, something we never expected it to turn into, the high level of naked pictures and videos that is circulating online or on social media is now becoming disturbing, people will be having sex and they'll be recording their self and later one of them will upload it in social media, all these things have made a lot of children to turn to sex addict or porn addict.
The government cannot do anything about it because there is too much freedom when it comes to having a phone and going to the social media space except the government we put a law that a child should not own a phone, apart from this there's no way the government can help.

[katanic97]

It's the people that are using social media wrongly that are making it look as if social media is bad but it is not because it still has her own good side. I will take the good side of social media and forget about the bad side. Anyone that allows people to use social media to put enemity between them and their loved ones don't understand love. If people cannot get you face to face, they will use social media and if you fall for it, they have achieved their goal.

The creation of social media was for the sharing of information but what we are seeing now is absolutely the opposite of what we are expecting to see in this new generation that will rather share their naked bodies on camera than to focus on their books and learn to get information that will enhance their knowledge about what they needed to know. The first thing the government need to do is to reduce the access of children on social media due to their easy exposures from peer groups and school friends.

Social media has actually turned to something else, something we never expected it to turn into, the high level of naked pictures and videos that is circulating online or on social media is now becoming disturbing, people will be having sex and they'll be recording their self and later one of them will upload it in social media, all these things have made a lot of children to turn to sex addict or porn addict.
The government cannot do anything about it because there is too much freedom when it comes to having a phone and going to the social media space except the government we put a law that a child should not own a phone, apart from this there's no way the government can help.

Unfortunately, you are aware yourself that there is no real solution to this. In general, everything has gone in the wrong direction. There is no shame or embarrassment about anything anymore. All of this has become normal for young people, and sooner or later they will apply everything they see on the internet or TV in real life. A lot of them even make money by posting and selling those same pictures/videos. Unfortunately, it would be very difficult to pass such a law as you mentioned. Things have simply gotten out of control.

[free-bit.co.in]

Social media has actually turned to something else, something we never expected it to turn into, the high level of naked pictures and videos that is circulating online or on social media is now becoming disturbing, people will be having sex and they'll be recording their self and later one of them will upload it in social media, all these things have made a lot of children to turn to sex addict or porn addict.

Why is it called social media in the first place? Because it's basically a small version of society, with all kinds of people, info and different ways of life. So it's not surprising to see bad or negative stuff on there. It just reflects what's already happening in real society. Social media itself didn't create all of these things.

So it's still a social network just like it always was. Nothing has really changed.

The government cannot do anything about it because there is too much freedom when it comes to having a phone and going to the social media space except the government we put a law that a child should not own a phone, apart from this there's no way the government can help.

Instead of putting all the blame on the government, as parents, have we really done our part? Kids were still getting into bad things even before social media existed.

[BTC FutureKing]

It's the people that are using social media wrongly that are making it look as if social media is bad but it is not because it still has her own good side. I will take the good side of social media and forget about the bad side. Anyone that allows people to use social media to put enemity between them and their loved ones don't understand love. If people cannot get you face to face, they will use social media and if you fall for it, they have achieved their goal.

The creation of social media was for the sharing of information but what we are seeing now is absolutely the opposite of what we are expecting to see in this new generation that will rather share their naked bodies on camera than to focus on their books and learn to get information that will enhance their knowledge about what they needed to know. The first thing the government need to do is to reduce the access of children on social media due to their easy exposures from peer groups and school friends.

Social media has actually turned to something else, something we never expected it to turn into, the high level of naked pictures and videos that is circulating online or on social media is now becoming disturbing, people will be having sex and they'll be recording their self and later one of them will upload it in social media, all these things have made a lot of children to turn to sex addict or porn addict.
The government cannot do anything about it because there is too much freedom when it comes to having a phone and going to the social media space except the government we put a law that a child should not own a phone, apart from this there's no way the government can help.

This is precisely the case such issues are frequently observed these days leading to a rise in cases of abuse against young girls. Everyone possesses a mobile phone now and parents often lack control over the situation.This stems largely from the toxic content on social media where everything is recorded and uploaded.This trend has also impacted married life with couples increasingly preferring separation.It is not the government but we ourselves who can rectify this if there is a collective will we could restrict mobile usage and access to social media.Doing so could prevent the development of deviant sexual behaviors reduce the incidence of such crimes and allow everyone to live without fear.

[andra-ierma]

So has social media caused more harm than good in our society?

I don't think it has caused more harm than good. In fact, there are equal disadvantages and advantages, depending on its use. Social media helps disseminate information faster, gives small businesses opportunities to promote their services and products online, allows communities to arrange charity events with ease, helps with long-distance communication and acts as an educational tool for raising awareness about certain social issues. Social media is not bad, it's a problem when it's misused and without good digital literacy.

[Swordsoffreedom]

I won’t really say it has caused more harm than good, because if social media leave our space today it wouldn’t help at all. Social media has it advantages and disadvantages, it will affect us negatively if we want it to affect us that way. By the time people start believing that not everything on social media is true, that’s when they will stop being influenced with everything on the social media space, both good and bad.

Are we going to blame social media, or are we going to blame ourselves for allowing social media to affect our lives? I blame people who use social media for the wrong reason, we cannot generalize the effect of social media for everyone, the impact has good and bad, the decision on how we want to use it as separate individuals is what matters. For me, I think social media has done more good than bad, and the bad by people who choose to use it in that way.

I came across a report from 2022 saying that knives were the weapon used in 97,183 murders worldwide in 2017, which was around 22% of all murders.  

So in this case, should we blame knive and call on government to ban them?

It's the same with social media. It's just a tool, an inanimate thing. We cannot just blame it for everything when it's really people's behavior and the way they use it that determines whether it has a positive or negative impact.


https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9886559/