Is Social Media Good or Bad? (Debate Points)

“Is Social Media Good or Bad”, has been among the debate topics for both Primary and Secondary School students, this article will be talking about the advantages of social media, including its disadvantages to society.

Social media has been in existence for decades and has helped lives by passing information and getting people to know about things happening in the world. However, just as everything that has its good effects, also has some negative impact, social media has also ruined some lives.

Table of Contents

What is Social Media?

Social Media is a website, or an APP (Application), that enables its users to easily create and share content with many users, and it also enables users to participate in social networking.

Examples of social media apps include Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, and many others.

Is Social Media Good or Bad?

Social Media is Neither Good nor Bad, as it has helped many and destroyed many too, it just depends on the user and intent of usage. Many have used various social media apps/platforms for good, and also earned greatly from those apps, while others have used it for negative things.

Social Media have saved lives, offered good information about things to people, eased life and also entertained many through video content and written content. However, we can’t overlook the aspect of how it has made many young kids lazy and also taught bad morals to children.

Just like I said, the intent or purpose of usage matters a lot, which defines social media to be either good or bad. So below are some of the advantages of social media and also the disadvantages you should know.

10 Reasons Why Social Media is Good

Below are some of the advantages of social media usage you should know.

1. Social Media Builds Friendship and Relationships

Yes, social media has kept the strong bonds between friends, as regular communications, keep them in check and keeps the friendship alive. So it’s not news that social media improves communication between friends who are far from each other.

The same communication bond is kept strong for lovers with the help of social media. Two (2) lovers of different locations or long-distance lovers are regularly communicating with each other, and having good fun with the help of social media.

People from different countries can connect with each other, talk or chat for a long and feel like they are with each other, through the help of social media, so with this social media has really played a good role in building strong communication.

2. Social Media Lowers Communication Barriers

When there was no social media or good communication means, there was a barrier between communication, but having social media now lowers communication barriers between people far apart.

So within minutes, one can speak to another in a distant location, and can even see the person through video calls, which is one big advantage of social media that shouldn’t be underrated as well.

3. Social Media Has Created Business Opportunities

There are improved marketing opportunities through the help of social media. Now through so many social media apps, companies and individuals can advertise their business, and make their craft known to many in different countries.

Products can be promoted, and people buy and sell online now, which has offered a good opportunity for businesses to be seen and heard, so this is another great advantage of social media.

You also get to know about customer satisfaction through their comments on your products, which helps build trust and boost improvements.

4. Employment Opportunities (Jobs)

There are good job opportunities through social media. Just as many companies and individuals advertise their business, job seekers also place adverts for interested people with the required skills to get employed.

Many people have gotten remote jobs, and stay home to work without stress. Most of those remote jobs are online. Others got their jobs through applying online or on social media apps and got employed, so social media has played a role in offering jobs to people.

5. Good Entertainment (Videos and Written Content)

Through comedy videos and written content, many depressed people have found a way to relieve themselves by laughing at jokes posted on social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp, YouTube and others.

There is no better place to get entertained apart from social media. You get to watch as many videos and comedy skits as pleases you and read as many stories or written jokes as you want, all are possible because of social media.

6. Social Media is an Information Dissemination

Much information and news are faster shared through social media platforms. Things might be happening in a country, and other countries can get to know about it, watch them and be informed through social media.

So when it comes to information sharing, social media has played a great role in that aspect, and this makes it very very important to societies.

7. Offers Free Educational Resources

Through social media, you get great knowledge for free, as most teachings are found on various education platforms like YouTube. One can go to YouTube and study without paying tuition fees.

Students study online, students read other students’ documentation for free, and the knowledge acquired is because of social media, so with this point, I will say social media has done more good than bad.

8. Help in Building Communities

Many communities have their online forums or groups on some social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and others, and those groups and forums have helped them to organize various online meetings without having to be in person.

Urgent matters have been shared through social communities or friend groups, which has kept many informed, building their relationships more.

9. Brand Building / Awareness

You can build a brand that will be known worldwide through social media, just as we have a popular website having social media handles (accounts) on different platforms, an example is Legit. ng, known to be one of the biggest websites in Africa (Nigeria Precisely), having millions of followers on various platforms.

When a person has a brand to build and wants many to know about that brand and what the brand is all about, social media can help one achieve that dream.

10. Knowledge About Other Cultures and Countries

We get to know more about other people’s cultures and lifestyles, like how they eat, dress and their way of life through some displays, videos and pictures on social media.

It’s also easy to know more about other tribes, and countries and how they live through various social media platforms, which is another good aspect of social media that shouldn’t be underrated.

7 Reasons Why Social Media is Not Good

Below are the disadvantages of social media you should know

1. Misinformation or Fake News

One of the disadvantages of social media is getting fake news or misinformation because a person can cook up stories and post them on his or her hand acct, and then people read and get informed wrongly.

There are a lot of fake news cases gotten from some social media platforms, and also some incomplete or misinformations are also gotten, which is one of the bad sides of social media.

2. Social Media Leads to Addiction and Distraction

Most people are addicted to their devices because of social media platforms, which most times take out a greater amount of time from their usual time frame, and each day goes by without them achieving anything good for themselves.

Distractions are highly found in people addicted to social media because you can’t be focused on your device chatting or watching videos and won’t be distracted from other offline activities.

3. Exposure to Frauds / Scammers

Most people are victims of fraudsters who scammed them of their money and other valuable things through social media, which makes it bad.

Most scammers online can’t be identified until a person falls victim, so social media has made people go bankrupt as well.

4. High Rate is Cyber-Bullying and Harassment

Many people have been insulted, bullied and harassed through social media. You can imagine someone having a picture of another in a bad or funny way, the person sharing it online, where others mock, bully and harass the person, making the victim feel less of his or her self or body.

There is also a high rate of body shaming of mostly the female gender on various social media platforms, making it bad as well.

5. Affects Productivity of People

There is less productivity in social and among people because everyone is busy chatting and spending all their time on social media platforms. No one goes out to work or farm because time is spent online, which reduces and negatively affects productivity.

6. Social Media Leads to Isolation

The high use of social media has kept people indoors and made the lifestyle enjoyable to many. Most people now stay indoors for months without communicating with outside people, because of social media.

7. Privacy Exposure

There is a high level of personal information exposure on social media, where one can hack into another person’s account, and get all details about the person, including some privacy, which is a bad aspect of social media.

Is Social Media Good or Bad for Students?

Social Media has helped students in their studies and has also distracted others from studying.

Conclusion

Social Media has played a good and bad role in many lives, which makes it good and bad, because of its advantages and disadvantages.