No phenomenon has grown in influence in recent years as much as the internet. Coronavirus means that all work happening in corporations and all education happening in schools are now done online.
Thus, the internet has given us a lot in recent years. After all, when two-thirds of the world’s population uses the internet, it must be adding something of value! As the internet influences so many people, people do discuss it many times. While some discuss who should get credit for laying the foundations for the largest global network in the world, others contemplate how the internet is distributed all around the globe.
However, there is one topic that is perhaps discussed more than any other: the negative effects of different aspects of the internet, especially social media. It is fascinating how something can contribute to the wellbeing of humankind so much yet hold such a bad reputation. In this article, we will be discussing exactly that.
Dark Web
Although the dark web is often used by people who want to gain freedom from oppressive regimes around the world, it still does not hold the greatest reputation as many criminal activities are facilitated by web pages on the dark web. These criminal activities include but are not limited to fraud, blackmail, and even terrorism. Many intelligence reports have named several terrorist organizations that have, in the past, made use of the platform.
The dark web is certainly not all bad as explained at the start of this section. However, we would be wrong if we say that the misuse of it is not a big problem. The truth is that the deep web holds approximately 7500 times more information than the surface web. The trick is to not eliminate the dark web but be very cautious of its negative effects.
Pornography
Pornography is one of the most common uses of the internet. Even though every porn site has a disclaimer saying that you should not use it if you are below the age of eighteen, truth is that pornography is used by people under that age all the time. Pornography has been known to make people of all ages less productive. This is because they become addicted to it and spend most of their days on it. Alongside, it is famous for decreasing the satisfaction people get out of their love lives.
Social Media
We explore the biggest aspect of the internet last. Currently, approximately four and a half billion people use social media. This means that any person is much more likely to be using, at the very least, one social media platform than not using any. More striking than the number of users of social media is the number of hours the average user spends on it. Reports say that that figure is as large as a couple of hours a day!
The fact that so many people spend so much time on it is the reason why it has a bad repute. The general impression is that people waste too much time on social media. This is decreasing the number of social interactions and physical well-being activities humans are performing. All this, in turn, is believed to make humans less physically and mentally healthy.
Another reason for social media having such a bad reputation is the perceived lack of data privacy. In the Cambridge Analytica scandal, a lot of private information related to polling was leaked. And the information was leaked from no small platform but the largest one on the entire planet, Facebook. To give you some perspective, if we were to include Whatsapp as a social media platform, Facebook’s parent company – Meta – owns the three largest social media apps in the world! The purpose of singling Meta out is not to defame it but to show how even the strongest social media company was not able to protect its users’ privacy.
Yet another reason why social media has a negative image is that it is known to inculcate a negative image in people themselves. A lot of people criticize Instagram for the lack of body positivity in many.
Conclusion
If you are one of the people perplexed by the negative image of social media in society, we hope this helps you realize the reasons behind it.
