Back in the days, the means of communication and interaction was either through fire and smoke signals, writing and posting of letters which could take days to deliver, cave paintings, signs and symbols, etc.
Communication with these old means was tedious, stressful, time consuming, delayed passing of information and had very limited information shared.
Times changed and the modern means of communication came into existence. One of which was social media. Social media achieves its aim through the internet. We can say that passing on this information became really possible as a result of the internet.
Social media includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Skype, Twitter, Snapchat, Tiktok, and the rest.
The evolution of social media has both its advantages and disadvantages which would be discussed further.
Advantages of Social Media
One basic advantage of social media is that it has paved an easier means of communication and interaction. It totally erased the tedious means that had to be used just to pass on some information. This has helped in time saving, reduces the stress faced, and most importantly a large unit of information can be passed down all at once.
In terms of business, it has helped a lot in brand building, reduces and manages costs that could come from using the old means of communication, helps to meet a targeted audience in a more easier and faster way and in turn makes it more profitable.
Furthermore, through social media, connections are either got back if lost, or new ones formed. It makes one keep up to date with a family, friend or acquaintances.
For me, it reduces boredom, I mean you get to see lots of funny skits, important information, as well as sad news. Social media for many is a solace, a place where they forget they have issues for a while and just live. For some, it becomes a means of earning a living.
Kids lately act so smart, and get to be more exposed to life outside their everyday live. They use these means to help in their education and other aspects. The evolution of social media is a needed change.
Disadvantages of Social Media
Everything that has advantages, also comes with some disadvantages.
The fact that it paved an easier means of communication also made it very difficult to verify if these information passed are genuine. This easy means of passing information with the price of cyber crimes, business gone bad situations, laziness and time wasting.
Some even use it as a means to pressure some targeted audience. You can barely tell the real from the fake. It could be really misleading as some people use it wrongly for their selfish reasons, leading to some having unrealistic expectations as their mindset will be built based on the fake life they assumed to be real.
One major negative impact is that it is also a source of distraction to both kids and adults. The exposure could go wrong if exposed to the wrong thing. One could get carried away and forget to face the business of the day. Being addicted to it becomes a bad end which could lead to bad sleeping patterns, delayed food consumption and so many bad effects.
There's also the cyber bullying that comes from the use of social media by some unstable set of people which would in turn lead to depression and pain.
It is important to find a balance. Social media can be of great help and the bad effects can be curbed only if we learn to balance the line. This could be done through time planning and time management, having a great self control, knowing the reason you use it, setting a standard and having a defined pattern.
Thank you for reading😊