Social media is an amazing technology, but too many people misuse it. Since its inception, the social media technology has empowered people by connecting them with one another, enabling them to interact with each other, and allowing them to exchange contents of different formats. Doubtlessly, this phenomenal technology has been a game changer as it has shrunk the distance between people, but too many of them misuse and abuse its sophisticated capability. According to an explanation on the Internet by Matthew Hudson, “Social media refers to websites and applications that are designed to allow people to share content quickly.”
The very purpose of social media is premised on sharing contents of different forms so that people get engaged and informed of what happens nationally and internationally. Today, every literate individual can get news, knowledge, and entertainment via the social media channels. Everything is a click away.
But damages that the social media machines can do are too immense. They can spoil individuals, they can upend nations, and they can antagonize countries against each other. In a nutshell, the misuse of the social media can be a disastrous matter without undo buttons. With its varied channels, the social media technology transfers information in a second and can reach as far as one can imagine.
YouTube and Facebook are two channels that are heavily used and misused. And some people take advantage of them and post on them whatever they desire, impervious of any ramifications. In order to make money and get fame, some individuals even upload engaging episodes of their innocent children on the aforesaid channels, and use the children as tools with which to make money and earn celebrity. Luckily, in some countries, parents are charged for committing such offenses against innocent children.
In a column titled “Parents are exploiting their children on YouTube for fame and easy money by the Guardian in March 2019,” columnist Emma Brockes wrote, “This week in the US a mother was arrested for allegedly abusing her seven children in the process of making “hilarious” madcap videos of them for her popular YouTube channel, Fantastic Adventures.”
Bullying women and smearing them is also rampant on social media channels. Likewise, fights in the form of slander and insults occur between many YouTubers and Facebookers. While it is fair to react to posted contents to say something about them, it is unfair and unethical to insult one another and smear each other for resolvable issues. When one closely observes what is transpiring between some YouTubers and Facebookers, one realizes how far the social media technology has corrupted peoples values. All kinds of words are uttered. Cultures and values are soiled. All boundaries are crossed. Nothing is spared. What a wretched misuse of the social media.
The use of the social media technology is both positive and negative. It is positive for those who use it in a proper way, and it is negative for those who use it in a bad way. In short, the social media technology is a double edged sword and depends on how it is used.