INNER CITY STORIES

What impact do social media have on people? That is the question people have been asking since social media was created, and it is the question that will continue to be asked for a very long time. Some effects of social media are obvious and often seen.

We have all heard about cases of cyberbullying. People being excessively and repeatedly mean to others without even having to talk to them in person. People have killed themselves because of people that they haven’t even met. A lot of the cyberbullies don’t care about the people they are bullying because a lot of them don’t see their victims in person. A lot of them don’t think that there will be a consequence for their actions. Cyberbullying is one awful consequence of the creation of social media.

A positive effect of social media is people who stay at home get a chance to be social. Someone who stays at home a lot, like me, can use social media to actually talk to people. Skype is one social media app where you can talk to people in group calls without having to give out any personal information. I spend a lot of time on skype and sometimes I play games with people while talking to them on skype. It makes me feel happy and less lonely without even having to leave the comfort of my own home. People are given the chance to make internet friends, which is amazing for people who can’t make friends in real life. I know I have internet friends from places like England and Australia and they tell me about their culture and their ways of life in the place they live. The people I meet online are really unique and interesting. Social media has allowed me to talk to some wonderful people.

Another effect is people can put themselves out there. On apps like Youtube, people can record themselves doing anything and upload it to the internet. Some youtubers become famous, like Pewdiepie. Pewdiepie aka Felix Kjellberg started uploading videos of him just playing video games and making funny commentary. He has millions of subscribers and makes a lot of money from it. He uses social media to get more people to follow him, satisfy his audience, and connect with his fans. Other youtubers like Danisnotonfire (Dan Howell), AmazingPhil (Phil Lester), Tyler Oakley, Joey Graceffa, and Shane Dawson started filming videos on Youtube and became internet famous. Some of them have their own movies, tv shows, and/or radio shows.

People sometimes use social media to procrastinate. I know I have planned to do homework and ended up going on social media for hours many times before. A lot of people spend their time looking at their Instagram feed, their Tumblr dashboard, their Twitter timeline, their Facebook home page, other people’s snapchat stories, or watching Youtube videos, watching Younow liveshows, watching Twitch broadcasts, or skyping with people. There are so many different things that people can do to procrastinate on social media. That causes numerous distractions, especially if your phone keeps buzzing every minute. It makes it impossible for some people to work.

Social media is a great tool to help you stay updated on what’s happening in the world. Events like terrorist attacks and natural disasters are put on social media. People hear about them. People retweet or reblog stuff to spread the word and possibly save someone’s life. The system is effective and efficient. A lot of my knowledge about the outside world is from the internet and social media. However, I do try to make sure that the information I receive is credible and actually true before I spread it to other people.

Social media is entertaining. People enjoy going on social media and seeing how other people live. I think it’s interesting and I spend a lot of time on social media, and I do feel like it has benefitted me. I feel more social and it helps me connect with my friends. Social media might give kids reasons to stay inside the house, but that isn’t a bad thing in certain places. In cities with a lot of crime, like New Britain, I think it’s good for kids to stay inside on social media, instead of exploring the dangerous outside world. But then again, I might just be trying to justify my own actions. Either way, social media clearly has its advantages and its disadvantages. It can help some people, but it can also harm other people. Even after hearing about the bad things about social media, I feel like it’s still fun and I will continue using it until it is no longer fun for me.