Advantages and disadvantages of social media - individual perspective

  Advantages and disadvantages of social media - individual perspective 

Social Media is an ever growing platform that everyone is using...unless you're living off the grid or trying to disconnect from this world because you're too cool to be conformed to this way of life now. Nonetheless, you're probably on social media, but what can the advantages or disadvantages of being online cause? 

From around 6th grade I've been using different platforms to stay connected online. I started off with instagram posting my little inspirational quotes or middle school activities to using instagram as a way to connect with peers and a creative outlet to the things I enjoy partaking in ( I know I know so unique right?).  So for the past 10 years I have witnessed and experienced the advantages or disadvantages of being connected. 

The first advantage is simply being connected. Social media is a way to stay in contact with old classmates, coworkers, family members etc. If you're more old school you may ask "well why can't you get their phone number and text or call them to stay in contact?" My answer would be that's a lot. Posting pictures or stories is an easy way for others to know what's going on with your life, your audience is all on one platform and you can share with multiple people without having to directly talk to them, which in this busy scheduled world sometimes is way more easy to manage. 

The second advantage is the creativity outlet. Getting to create content that is specifically created around the things you're passionate or interested in is fun. For myself I enjoy fashion and photography so my instagram really highlights those interests of mine. As well as using creativity to post, you can also follow people that share those same interests that you do and either just appreciate the art or use it as inspiration too,  hence all the trends that circulate on all the different platforms. 

On the flip side there are disadvantages of social media.

The first disadvantage is how much we as a society sit on our phones and scroll. Especially being a college student that could be using her time more wisely, it can be hard managing my time on my phone. This can cause a lot of disruptions in my life whether that's because I"m procrastinating my responsibilities or just completely ignoring them because I need to watch my latest YouTube videos, keep up with snapchat or just scrolling the gram. Being on my phone can lead to many disruptions or distractions throughout my day because it is so easy to lose myself in that world. 

The second disadvantage is how it can create in-person communication problems. Again being on social media from a young age I have picked up some negative habits with communicating to others. If im sad or have a problem with someone it is way easier for me to communicate those problems through text or online instead of confronting them in person. It allows me to hide behind a screen to share my issues instead of talking to somebody in person about them because it is less scary. This is a disadvantage because of the anxiety it has created for myself to talk to others about deeper things in a face-to-face setting. 

To wrap this all up, social media isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Because there are both positive and negative things about being online there needs to be a healthy balance of using it.  Just like everything in this world too much is a bad thing but being disconnected can also cause a separation between you and the constant growing society we live in. 

Sources

https://medium.com/@clinguen/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-social-media-47cd957b73d5