The Incredible Impact of Social Media

The Incredible Impact of Social Media 

Social media is the most impactful tool of this generation. It can reach anyone about anything, anywhere in the world. This of course can be extremely good or terrible, depending on how the platform is being used and by who. Social media can at times be very intrusive. 

If a family is sitting at the dinner table eating and everyone is on their phone using social media, the in-person connection is lost. It can also be intrusive in the way that people can say anything about anyone for the world to see. If you told your best friend a secret, they could easily post it on social media and now everyone knows. 

The previous example is exactly why there should be held responsibilities when using social media. People should be held accountable for posting or uploading offensive and detrimental content. Social media is an incredible tool, but also requires a massive amount of responsibility, especially when speaking on someone or something of influence. 

Recently social media has been used for a great cause. This cause was bringing awareness to the burning of the Amazon rain forest. If people didn't have social media, they would not have known so quickly. It doesn't just stop there, through social media people set up fundraisers. Major influencers such as Leonardo DiCaprio set up a campaign to raise money for the restoration of the rain forest. Without the use of social media there is no way that such a movement would have been able to take place so quickly. This example of social media being used for good is one of many. Although there are many occasions in which social media is used for negative purposes. 

The effect of social media's future is hard to decipher. With anyone being allowed to post anything, finding the truth becomes harder. People must become more educated and check multiple sources before confirming that an article or post they just read is factual. With that being said there shouldn't be a regulator deciding what can be put on the internet. As the idea might be effective it will become a problem. 

The problem lies in how the regulator would be used. In America we have freedom of speech therefore the people can say and post what they want. If this was regulated for factual information only it would be a violation of our constitutional rights. That is why checking multiple reliable sources for credibility is so important. For social media to have a mostly positive influence in the future, the people using it must be educated enough to decipher fact from fiction. 

If people check their sources and use social media with responsibility, there should be a bright future for social media in general. Of course, there will be negative situations, but with anything involving pro's comes cons. The effectiveness of social is so great positively or negatively that it is here to stay. Learn how to use it to your advantage or you will become the used one.