Essay Made Easy: Social Media, A SOURCE OF CONNECTING PEOPLE OR DISCONNECTING THEM

Introduction

Different types of media

• Print media
• Electronic media

Social media and its types

• Blogs and micro-blogs (Twitter)
• Social networking sites (Facebook)
• Social commerce (Amazon, Alibaba)
• Social media news (Digg)
• VolP Software (Skype, MSN)

Social Media as a source of connecting people

• Connecting with unknown people belonging to other nations and states
• Connecting with the people one already knows, irrespective of their location(s)
• Possibility of staying connected with others round the clock
• Little cost of maintaining connection
• Fast and speedy connectivity
• Easy tracing of lost contacts
• Benefits of connectivity through social media

Social benefits

• Shares information
• Upgrades living standards
• Serves as a source of education
• Eliminates social biases

Political benefits

• Spreads political awareness
• Assists in political decision-making
  o Arab Spring 2011
  o General Elections 2013 in Pakistan
• Highlights public issues and grievances

Economic benefits

• Gives information on economic opportunities
• Provides platform for economic activities
• Renders assistance in economic decision- making

Religious benefits

• Imparts religious education
• Eliminates religious biases
• Serves as a platform for religious preaching

Administrative benefits

• Serves as source of information-sharing
• Assists in quick decision-making
• Helps in ensuring better governance

Social media as a source of disconnect of the people

• Weakening of family bonds
• Decrease in traditional get together
• Decline in sports activities
• Scarcity of time

A glimpse over some other evils of social media

• Spoil of moral values
• Wastage of time
• Acts of cheating and fraud
• Deleterious impacts on health
• Promotion of hatred and antagonism
• Unreliability of information

Causes of evils of social media

• Absence of proper control mechanism
• Poor performance of regulatory authorities
• No focus on character-building in educational institutes
• Absence of other recreational facilities
• Easy availability of technology
• Cheaper  access to social media sites
• Incognito access to social media sites

Recommendations for eliminating the harmful impacts of social media

• Application of some mandatory filters and controls
  o At national level
  o At local level
• Launching of awareness campaigns
• Enactment of stringent laws
• Effective role of regulatory authorities
• Effective role of education sector in character-building
• Provision of better sports and recreational facilities
• Enhancement of service cost