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Rated: E · Essay · Activity · #2010480
A brief essay on how social media has affected society

If I was to ask you "what is social media?" I can guarantee many if not all of you would be able to tell me. Social media has become part and parcel of everyday life. I believe that whilst some communication through various social media channels is good there is also a very dark underbelly which some people remain unaware of.
500 Million people use one social media site called Facebook, the site allows you to become online friends with people and share thoughts, opinions and feelings. There are many other aspects to facebook too like the number of online games that use facebook as a base one of the most popular being "Candy crush". I was victim to the hold of facebook games spending hours musing over getting "Candy" in rows of three or more, then it struck me how much of my time was spent doing this and it scared me a little to think of how wasted that time was fair enough I was on level 80 but how did that help me in the real world? the simple answer is it didn't. Most if not all facebook games seem innocent after all they are free to play or so it would seem at first but once you start playing the game bam it hits you saying for an extra powerup or life you have to spend real money that's how comes the revenue for candy crush in one year was 1.5 billion dollars all for something you cant feel touch or taste. Some of the games you play against yourself and others against friends, family or complete strangers. It's easy to get hooked, putting things in the real world off until you beat you sister or cousin or that person from elsewhere in the world. I was a victim of this and will be the first to admit it spending days in front of a computer screen rather than go outside and enjoy the sunshine and nature. Which in turn has a negative impact on your health.
Young people especially are hooked on social media always sharing what they are up to and places they have been and games they have been playing. Ask a young person which would they rather do "be on facebook" or go for a walk i can guarantee facebook would win every time and this is leading to childhood obesity because they are not getting out of the house and exercising they are spending there time in front of an electronic device. That's not the worst part about young people on social media there is an even more darker side to it and that is sexual predators, the joy of social media is you can be whoever you want if I wanted to be Thomas Griffin that's easy enough to do just type it in. Predators take advantage of this and pose as teenagers online befriending real teenagers and blending in then the harassment starts because teenagers are often to open with the information they put online like their phone number or address once these go online they are in the public domain predators know this and take full advantage. They may chat with the teenagers on a daily basis seemingly harmless stuff at first but then getting really personal after all if you put your address online they know where you live.
Writing letters is a thing of the past because now you can have instant communication online with friends and relatives, in fact the only mail that comes through my door now is bills. This has in my mind got rid of the personal touch, even now more people send e-cards on birthdays or special occasions then physical cards.
Social media has a bad effect for business in many ways because of employees spending more time on social media then actually working which is costing companies millions in man hours each year.
So In conclusion I feel that it is better to restrict your time on social media and be very careful what you wish to share with the world.

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