Topic > The negative effects of social media on society

Being born in the 90s, social media didn't really exist at the time. The Internet was created in 1992 and most people “raced to have a PC turned on in every home. And, in 1995, the site that may have been the first to meet the modern definition of social networking was born” (Trends 2014). Some of the first social media sites created were Classmates, Sixdegrees, AsianAvenue, MiGente, and BlackPlanet. But people of my generation remember when MySpace first came out and it was what everyone was using at the time. Then after a while it started to die out and eventually everyone stopped using it because Facebook was the new social media to meet people, stay in touch and everyone posted there so people could stay updated. We literally are capable of doing so much more than people could do in the past and if you asked them they would say we're crazy because we've come a long way with technology. Another good thing about social media is that as long as you have access to any type of electronic device that has the Internet you can download applications or use the World Wide Web to access any social media a person has. One great thing about social media is that people sometimes don't think and if someone tries to do something illegal and posts it on social media, they can find the person in a matter of seconds. Social media has also helped police find people thanks to locations added by social media, so if someone goes missing they can see where they were last located. Additionally there have been cyberterrorists and other terrorists who have been caught because of posts or messages exchanged with each other about things they planned to do and have been taken into custody before they did anything that could harm people or take control of the Internet . Social media is also a good source to keep up to date with world news because there are updates on news and events around the world that are happening because they know that people will see them and may be aware of them. Social media is a good place to promote products or help if someone is looking to do so. But now, thanks to social media, everything a person does can be put on social media for everyone around the world to see. Then, once people see it, the targeted person usually gets bullied on social media, a phenomenon called cyberbullying. Social media has also taken away children deprived of physical activity and most people have started becoming antisocial. According to Press (2014) “There are people who can't even write their own name and are able to recognize themselves and people only from their photos… [but] constantly check status updates on their smartphones,” the which shows how addicted people have become. Social media is now considered the number one distraction and has caused many people to die in road accidents because people think they can multitask and take their eyes off the road for a few seconds to check their phones. Then in an instant something tragic happens that could have been avoided by waiting. Another negative aspect of social media is that there are people out there who use fake profiles so they can do illegal things and try to harm others. As social media creators try to make their application or site better, they continue to make updates that provide more personal information about the person. But that's not always a good thing because people out there stalk or