Nowadays, it is common to hear about the benefits of

social media, as well as the arguments against social media.

Some would note that social media influences the importance of
physical interaction and learning, driving people apart due to the
lack of feeling and emotion while socializing online. There are
even cases wherein long relationships have drifted apart due to
social media, and worst, even found themselves being cheated
upon by their lover. However, despite all of these comments as to
how social media destroys relationships, it is undeniable that
social media is actually bringing people closer, transcending
boundaries of both distance and time as people now have a
medium to keep in touch, connect with people, and present
additional benefits that is also received in regular socialization
and relationships.
Many experts, groups and even individuals would agree that
social media has revolutionized the way people socialize,
communicate and interact with people in all walks of life. Social
media’s immediate impact could be seen in individuals as they
could use social media to keep in touch with their love ones and
friends, and keep up with the latest information, gossip or events
across the globe or in their region. Notably, social media is now
considered the new form of communication as people would no
longer need to send snail mail and wait days for a reply. Social
media platforms such as Skype, Facebook, and e-mail clients
such as Gmail now provide means for people to interact with
each other in real-time. Social media is also seen by many
individuals as a means to socialize with others through games, or
in basic networking, making the process more fun and enjoyable.
This new means of socialization could be seen in social
networking sites such as Facebook as people could invite more
people or acquaintances into their own network and share
information and communicate in real-time. Some people even
use these networking sites and platforms as a means to connect
with strangers who may have same interests or same networks as
they do, allowing them to become closer to new sets of people
from different countries. For the younger generation, they see
social media not just a means to communicate with peers and
family, but also a means to create social connections with others,
building their relationships and personalities at the same time. It
would be easier to create information sharing between friends
and family without the fear of embarrassment and restraint. Ideas
could be shared with one another through social media, and also
expands one’s horizons over the people they meet online and
create respect to people of different race and status .
Celebrities and politicians also turn to social media to mingle and
be closer to their fans and supporters, sometimes even use social
media as a means to call for support and assistance. While using
social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, celebrities and
politicians could not only update and communicate with their
love ones and friends but also reach out to their fans about their
daily life, campaigns or projects. Fans worldwide can even use
these social media sites to say hi to their idols and be familiar to
another side of these people which is not seen on television.
Several celebrities had made their mark in social media such as
Oprah and Martha Stewart as they use Twitter to update their
followers of their latest guests, issues for discussion, and even
their favorite places to go and hang out. In some cases, celebrities
would also use social media to call for their fans to support
charitable institutions. In the case of politicians, aside from
updating their followers regarding their lives, projects, and
programs, they also see social media as a means to bring their
ideals closer to the public and reach to a more wider
demographic. In the 2008 Presidential Elections, for example,
both President Barack Obama and Senator John McCain utilized
social media to advertise their sorties, debates, and even
campaigns to Americans around the globe. Social media also
became their platform in acquiring information from their
supporters as to common issues, and what their supporters wish
to see in their campaigns or projects .
When it comes to companies and recruitment agencies, social
media enables them to become closer to job applicants as these
applicants would no longer need to go personally to offices to
check their job openings and apply. Through social media,
companies and recruitment agencies could reach all types of
employees in any level and demographic. They can easily discern
the profile of applicants through their uploaded resumes in job
search sites or in websites such as LinkedIn, and at the same
time, build employment pools for possible job openings in the
future. HR departments also see social media as a means to reach
passive applicants or those people who is noted to have a talent
and yet, cannot easily be located due to the influx of applications.
In some companies such as Ernst & Young, Google, and the
CIA, they utilize Facebook and YouTube to reach these types of
applicants and explain through video what they need for the
company . Aside from this, companies would also find it easier
and efficient to utilize social media in hiring as they can open up
jobs that would present no limitations to applicants, drawing
them closer to the company. Both employees and employers
could also utilize social media to create contacts and
recommendations that could be beneficial for the company’s
future .
Schools and businesses also see social media as an excellent
medium to bring people

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Schools and businesses also see social media as an excellent
medium to bring people closer to them. In terms of schools,
social media now becomes a platform to enable students and
teachers to maintain communication lines to each other, as well
as create more mediums of learning. Students could utilize social
media to maintain communication to the school for employment
options, alumni newsletters, and even a means to continue
education with the school. In terms of educators, they can use
social media as a means to reconnect with past and present
students, as well as create a unique network of colleagues and
students that could be useful for the future . Finally, for
businesses, social media enables them to reach out to more
audiences and customers, as well as reaching out to fellow
entrepreneurs and companies. Since social media can transcend
location and communication restrictions, businesses could carry
out their shops and support their clients online .
Without social media, it is likely that people would still find it
difficult to socialize with their friends and relatives abroad due to
the slow communication mediums available. It would also be
difficult to keep them updated with the latest events and news as
people would need to wait longer periods to receive a message.
Some would even find it very difficult to mingle with other
nationalities and races if there wasn’t an available medium to
create such channels for communication. Celebrities, politicians,
businesses, and companies would also find it difficult to reach
out to the public and create closer ties with them, especially in
times of crisis and need or for new opportunities. With these
sentiments in mind, it is undeniable that social media has
changed how people connect and come closer to people all across
the globe. Social media has redefined closeness in an extent there
is no limit to meeting and interacting with others.

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No its not bringing people closer rather it has become a medium
to show off people are just doing stuff to improve there social
media presence.People are just worrying about likes and
comments rather than enjoying that moment.

I dont know how many would agree on this but its kinda making
us very sensitive or weak for that matter, because people’s
approval in form of likes n comments is more important than our
own liking for anything. It is also making us to focus on other’s
lives than our own It is also a big distraction and consumes a lot
of our time.

Well coming back to the question i dont think its bringing people
any close.If you want to maintain a relation you have to put your
time and efforts in it. Eg We must having some contacts which
are just idle in our contact list with whom we hardly talk. Infact
friendships have become weak to be affected by dps last seens
statuses likes comments replies and so on.Bfore social media
friendships were more real and strong.Now as fast people get
connected with same speed people get apart
And from my group of friends i was the last to have a whatsapp
account that time i got completely isolated every one forgot that
I Exist actully it broke a long old friendship.If a person is not a
click away nobody will bother about you.That is the span of
friendships now.Due to this social media we think that our friend
is just click away so we have forgotten to make efforts to
maintain a relationship if someone is not on whatsapp or any
other social app for say some months, that person just becomes
long lost.Any relationship is loosing its warmth.Its just an
addiction and fun way to chat.And also to make these chats fun
you should have some common ground or should be meeting
outside the virtual world n if you have not met n still u are having
a good chat with someone you try to meet outside the
virtual world.so you can be close to someone if you meet make
efforts.Personal touch is needed if that is not there anyone wont
remain close….
5.4K views
View 9 upvotes
9On the whole, I think social media brings people closer together
than draws them further apart. Social media broken down into its
different uses can help reveal where it most strongly brings
people together and where it most strongly draws them apart.

There are three key uses for social media: (1) Staying in touch
with friends, family, and associates, (2) sharing information, (3)
exchanging viewpoints.

On net, social media brings us closer together. It extends our

friendships and expands the scope of ideas, but can also facilitate
cyber-bullying and the proliferation of echo chambers. It may not
be possible to quantify the effect of each push and pull factor
within each use of social media. What is possible, however, is to
encourage its potential and limit its downsides. This requires a
closer look into who we are as individuals and as a society. After
all, social media is a reflection of who we are and the decisions
we make.

Let’s take a look.

Staying in touch with friends, family, and associates

Before social media, our relationships had a much shorter

lifespan. Unlike closer family relationships, friendships usually
have an expiration date, but can easily be revived at any point in
time. Think of the average person’s Facebook friend list. They
typically consist of friends you are in close touch with (“active
friends”), friends you lost touch with but would still reach out to
if, say, you visit the city they live in (“dormant friends”), and
friends from a long time ago that remind you of a past time in
your life but you no longer have a relationship with
(“commemorative friends”). Social media allows you to extend
the lifespan of these friendships with as little effort as a “like”
and an annual birthday message, but that’s not enough to revive a
relationship, which usually takes real-life effort. In this situation,
does social media bring people closer together or further apart?
By extending the lifespan of friendships, or keeping them even
just barely live, it keeps us closer than farther apart. (see The
Three Types of Friends You'll Have in Your Life).

In addition, there are other social networks used to maintain

professional contacts, such as LinkedIn. LinkedIn serves as an
additional channel to help job seekers reach employers, and visa
versa. Word of mouth has historically been a key channel for
knowledge about jobs or knowledge that certain people are
looking for jobs. Social media helps bring all of that together into
a network, bringing people closer together than further apart.

On the negative side, however, these social networks can also

destructive outcomes, like offering a wider network for bullies to
do more harm than good via cyber bullying. This is a serious
issue, and a structural one that deserves attention and resources.
On the whole, it would be hard to argue that cyber-bullying is
driving society further apart because there is agreement that
cyber-bullying is wrong, harmful, and needs to be stopped.

Sharing information
Social media is also used to share either personal or non-personal
information. Personal information is largely part of the “staying
in touch” use of social media, where people share what they are
up to, where they have been, and photos of their personal lives.
Non-personal information is consists of facts that can be about
current events, science, technology, business, psychology, you
name it! In my own experience, I learn of new information from
both professional and social channels - newspapers or friends, for
example. Twitter is an example of the value of social channels
for sharing facts when those facts are time sensitive and rely on
eyes and ears on the ground (think of a tragic event such as a
hostage situation at a popular social event). Professional outlets
serve to verify this information and go deeper into other related
facts that are relevant. In addition, friends and associates can
share information from sources that I may be unaware of, or have
not yet seen, which expands the type of factual information
available to me. After all, we don’t know what we don’t know!
When people are linked together, we can share information that
may shed light on something we had no idea that we didn’t
know. This surely keeps us closer together than farther apart.

Now, what if the information is factually incorrect? Ah, fake

news - the apocryphal “news” stories that threaten our common
reference points. This, of course, sows confusion in society. The
use of social media to share information exacerbates the spread
of fake news because it is the most likely channel to accept fake
news (the verification layer between the source of information
and its recipient is missing here) and the most likely channel to
share it to their networks, having accepted it is as true. This
brings people further apart because of the confusion it creates
and the resentment that may ensue.

Exchanging viewpoints

This is where the balance between “push” and “pull” is most

delicate. An exchange can occur within an echo-chamber, which
strengthens our belief of our own viewpoints more than we
otherwise may have been, or outside of an echo-chamber where
people can be exposed to different views. It is no surprise
that echo chambers exist on social media, and expand their size
and scope (see Inside the social media echo chamber). Echo
chambers can pull us closer to like-minded people, but push us
further away from others. They also tend to vilify others and
reduce the civility of discourse. The results are often stronger
cleavages in a more divided society.

There are, on the other hand, arguments that highlight the value
of echo chambers, like this one by Emily Parker at The
Washington Post: Opinion | In praise of echo chambers. Parker
points out that “today’s echo chambers can fan the kind of energy
needed to achieve broader strategic goals” and strengthen
solidarity. Her main idea is that if social media can’t bridge a
political divide, it can be used to “close the ranks”.

The other exchange of views that occur outside the echo chamber
exposes us to ideas and perspectives that we may have never
thought of or understood. Agreement and consensus is not the
goal, but empathy, understanding, and self-improvement are.
Websites such as Quora, Parlio (acquired by Quora), Redditt and
others offer platforms for individuals to exchange information
and opinions on anything under the sun in a constructive and
informative way. Aware of internet trolls and misinformation,
these platforms have clever “upvoting” features as a mechanism
to promote quality and civility. Not everyone uses these
platforms, however (though they should!). The point is that social
media offers this, and if anyone in any corner of the world
chooses to, they can be exposed to anybody anywhere else in the
world thinks about something. This is bound to bring us closer
together.

So, what do we make of these counterbalancing effects of the

exchange of viewpoints in social media? Echo-chambers can
divide us but the wider marketplace of ideas enhances our
emotional and intellectual understanding of the world.

On net, social media brings us closer together

It may not be possible to quantify the effect of each push and pull
factor within each use of social media. What is possible,
however, is to encourage its potential and limit its downsides.
This requires a closer look into who we are as individuals and as
a society. After all, social media is a reflection of who we are and
the decisions we make.

Without social media, cyber-bullying may not be possible, but

bullying will remain a threat unless we act.

Without social media, echo-chambers may be less severe, but the

underlying issue of surrounding yourself with like-minded people
will be even stronger without the ability to access the world at
your fingertips with little to no cost.

Without social media, fake news may be less of an issue, but it

does not change the fact that fake news has existed for as far
back as history takes us. With social media, it is less costly to vet
this information. Of course, with great power at your fingertips
comes great responsibility

Social media
simultaneously draws us
together and pulls us
apart.Does social media
do more harm than
good?YESAs social media have become a
primary mode of expression and communication for
large partsof the world’s population, social media
platforms have also become vulnerable to less
desirableactions. These include using social media for
information warfare, recruiting and
radicalizingpotential terrorists or collecting data and
information about users for purposes they have
notconsented to. Although social media can connect
people with their friends and families fromaround the
world, it is actually one of the highest ranking causes of
suicide amongst teenagersin the 21st century. As
important as connection via the internet can be, social
media does nothave to be the primary source for
teenagers.Therefore, this essay will discuss in depth,
thearguments opposing social media by referring to the
two articles from the Universal Declarationof Human
Rights, twoprinciples from the theory of deontology
and the two approaches togovernance.To begin with,
social media faces a challenge while playing its role in
protecting human rights inthe world. According to the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has
the right toprivacy. This document applies to every user
on social media network. However, users' privacygets
violated more often than people think. Social
media networks have access to usersinformation,
and because they want to make information more public,
they will allow access tousers' private information by
advertisers and that is like, without the user's
consent, whichtechnically is a violation of people's
right to privacy. Research by Siddique and Singh
(2016)supported thatkidnapping, murder, robbery can
be easily done by sharing details on socialmedia. This
is because the public are able to effortlessly find the
user’s information. . Likewise, astudy by(Abdulahi,
Samadi & Gharleghi, 2014)statedthat when students
increase the amountof using social network sites, they
also increase their privacy and security issues.
Therefore,privacy and security are important aspects of
human rights as it keeps that personal informationsafe
from the public.Moreover, another way that users’ rights
get violated is by cyber-bullying. When people are
sentspiteful and malicious things online, it violates article
five of the Universal Declaration of HumanRights,
which says that no one shall be subjected to torture or
cruel, inhuman or degradingtreatment or punishment.
Social media platforms such as Twitter can be hotspots
for spreadinghurtful rumors, lies, and abuse that can
leave lasting emotional scars. Recently, the
SamoanPrime Minister Tuilaepa Maleilegaoi
threatened to ban the social media network Facebook
inSamoa after what he described were gutless
anonymous bloggers using the freedom of socialmedia
to abuse government officials and innocent
members of the public.

The aspects of Social Media and the Internet that may tear us apart as a society
include the fact that we have less face-to-face interactions in our every day lives.
Society has turned to different new technologies as a huge medium of
communication including cell phones, texting, emailing, etc.

The newspaper industry has greatly suffered at the hands of the Internet and
classifieds sites such as Craigslist. Print newspaper subscriptions and print
advertisements have always been the main source of revenue for newspaper
companies. Now that many articles are posted online, many people are
unsubscribing from print newspapers. According to this New York Times blog
article,  the New York Times Company saw it’s stock decline by 54% from 2004 to
2008 as people began to read more news articles online and the company began to
struggle. As the Internet gains popularity, the newspaper industry may continue to
deteriorate.

Social Media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have led way to a new “Internet

society” in which people often bully others while hiding behind their computer
screen. Cyberbullying has emerged as a huge problem in society because of these
Social Media sites. The Simon Wiesenthal Center reports that online terror and
hate on Social Media websites is on the rise with a 30% increase from last year.
Social Media encourages hate and bullying.

In the scheme of things, the negative impacts that the Internet and Social Media
have had on our society do not outweigh the positives.
The Internet is very useful; children learn from online games and interactive
homework assignments, people are kept up to date with breaking news on sites
such as Google News, investors can keep track of stocks, etc.

Although the Internet has hurt the newspaper industry, we see these companies
conforming to the new “Internet society” and its demands. According The
Guardian, since the New York Times paywall was activated in March, it was
announced that it more than doubled the number of paid subscribers to 250,000.
Overall, the paper has more than 1 million digital subscribers. It is projected that
the paywall will be an overall success, and allow Newspaper companies to become
more competitive in the journalism industry.

Social Media sites have introduced some negatives to society but at the same time,
have introduced a number of positives. These sites have allowed people to keep in
touch easily. Before Social Media, keeping in touch and catching up with old
classmates or coworkers was difficult if not impossible. Before Social Media, if
someone changed their phone number or address, it was difficult to keep in contact
with them. Now, thanks to social media, keeping in touch with an acquaintance is
as easy as a “Friend Request.”

It is obvious that there are many positive and negative aspects of the Internet and
Social Media. As a society, we have evolved and continue to evolve as the Internet
becomes a more important aspect of society. All in all, I believe that the Internet
and Social Media have contributed to our society as a whole, and will continue to
bring us together in the future.

 Especially with the pandemic, social media has brought light to another layer of
healthcare. Various healthcare providers created public accounts on these social media
platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, and etc. to provide
information/updates about what is going on with the pandemic, social distancing
guidelines, and updates about the vaccine. In a peer reviewed article published prior to
COVID, the authors explored the various benefits and risks of being an active user on
social media. Some of these benefits include increasing interactions with others, having
more accessible information, social support, and having the potential to influence many
policies related to health (Moorhead et al., 2013). Many of these healthcare providers
whose following blew up during the pandemic have even branched out into making
social media a side gig, taking monetary compensation for everything that they post,
even collaborating with major companies to encourage people to stay safe and healthy
during the pandemic. A good example is the user @lifeofadoctor on Tiktok, whose
following grew exponentially after making daily/weekly updates on COVID statistics
during the pandemic to encourage his followers to stay home. His following grew so
much in that brief period of time that he was among one of the first few creators on
TikTok to be a recipient of $1 billion creator fund.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJgx4KYe/

However, the increased use of social media during the pandemic wasn’t completely
without faults. It impacted the areas of an individual’s social self and the dynamic
between various groups. A social psychology concept that can be applied to the use of
social media is the self-discrepancy theory. This theory states that individuals compare
their “actual” selves to their “ideal” self and if there are any inconsistencies between
the two, it causes immense discomfort in the individual. This can specifically apply to
how social media is used as it further encourages people to compare their “actual”
selves to their “ideal” selves depicted on platforms. While trying to depict their life in
the best way possible, people may start to see themselves in two different ways (their
“actual” self in real life versus their “ideal” self-depicted in social media) and because
of this, a lot of discomfort may arise within individuals as they may feel a strong urge
to be their “ideal” self, but it may not be realistic to the type of lifestyle they currently
live. A study conducted in 2006 explored the relationship between self-discrepancy in
terms of body image and how this affects participation in social comparison. It found
that women who had high levels of self-discrepancy were more likely to compare
themselves to others from being exposed to the thin-ideal, and they found that these
comparisons can result in self-inflicted negative consequences (Bessenoff, 2006).  This
effect may be amplified in teenagers who see the “idealized” view of many of their
favorite celebrities/peers and start to believe that everyone is portraying their “actual”
selves instead of their “idealized” selves, which can be very damaging to their self-
esteem. All influencers, at one point or another, can be accused of doing so. It would
be hard to find a celebrity that posts the negative events going on in their lives and not
showing a glamorized view of what they do on a daily basis.

This can also tie into how social media is used to boost an individual’s self-esteem as
many use social media to depict the highlights of their life, completely neglecting to
post the negatives. With this close to ideal depiction of one’s self on social media, it
can cause many to comment on how great you look and how great your life is, which
can directly affect (and boost) someone’s self-esteem. People depict themselves on
social media the way they think they are seen by others or the way they want to be
seen, which can be very problematic for the younger generation that are frequenting
these platforms, giving them unrealistic expectations of what they should look like and
how life is. A good example of this is the supermodel Gigi Hadid – she is rarely found
depicting the hardships o f motherhood, it was only until recently that she even posted
pictures of herself being pregnant. Similarly, another influencer on social media who
has a particular presence on there is James Charles. He is mainly seen on Instagram
wearing glamorous makeup looks and living a lavish lifestyle, but when the paparazzi
catches him, he can be seen without makeup and shows that there is much more to him
apart from his makeup looks.

Despite the negative effects that social media may have on self-esteem, it can also be
used to enhance one’s own self-image. In a study conducted by Gonzalez and Hancock
in 2011, they found that, interestingly enough, increasing the exposure to information
on your own Facebook profile can enhance self-esteem, especially when an individual
selectively-self presents themselves on the internet (Gonzalez and Hancock, 2011).

Another concept of social psychology that can be applied to the use of social media,
especially amongst teenagers, is the Common Ingroup Identity Model that was
developed by Gaertner and Dovidio. The model suggests that if members of various
groups can recategorize themselves as members of a more superior group, the
intergroup relations can drastically improve. This can specifically apply to social media
in the sense that people all over the world have various attitudes towards other
members of other racial and socioeconomic groups and social media can expose people
to others who they would not normally interact with, allowing them to find some
common/shared identities with members of the outgroup, which would further initiate
the formation of other new, more superior groups that are based primarily on shared
interests/beliefs. For example, my brother, being stuck at home, ventured out to
different social media platforms where he was exposed to people that he typically did
not interact with on a daily basis prior to the pandemic, and actually ended up
developing a different perspective on racial minorities as he found many individuals
who fit into that group that he shared a common identity with.

Interestingly enough, although many thinks that the increase in the use of social media
may be temporary and that once the pandemic is over, the new users would stop using
these platforms, eMarketer actually predicts the opposite. Using data collected from the
Harris Poll, they found that approximately half of the respondents reported using social
media more frequently than they ever had before (seen in image below) and made
inferences about how these platforms would be used in the future in a world post-
pandemic. Those who, during the pandemic, learned how to use all types of video
platform services are more likely to continue doing so even when lockdown restrictions
are lifted. Additionally, eMarketer predicts that the amount of time we will spend on
messaging platforms will also increase by approximately four minutes. Lastly, they
note that US adults will probably spend about seven more minutes a day on social
media, but they expect this to decline in 2021 once the pandemic is controlled (Samet,
2020).

Overall, while social media may initially seem like a great way to keep in touch with
loved ones while maintaining the social distancing rules across the globe, it can also
bring about many negative effects and challenges. People may feel more comfortable
behind a phone/computer screen and take advantage of this comfort by cyberbullying
their peers and influencers. According to a peer-reviewed study done this year
exploring the role of social media during COVID, they found that this comfort may
also result in individuals exploiting public opinions and committing other hate crimes
that they would not have the courage to do otherwise in person. For example, there are
many individuals who comment hateful things on many celebrities’/influencers’ social
media accounts, but if they saw the celebrity in person, they would pretend to be a fan.
Furthermore, many rely on the Internet for the latest news and updates in the world and
social media has started to evolve into sharing information about important current
events, but many users on social media can “troll” on the platform by disseminating
misinformation. The spread of misinformation can easily result in mass hysteria about
current events (Sahni & Sharma, 2020). Lastly, while social media may boost one
person’s self-esteem, it may destroy an impressionable individual’s own self-esteem
with the hopes of achieving an unattainable reality depicted.