Introduction
The social media continue to be one of the most elemental tools in the lives of people today. It influences several activities and operations that people engage in. The use of the general websites, web sharing and the social websites has relative effects on the social and personal perspectives and behavior of the users, especially considering the increasing technological innovations prevalent in the world today. Internet websites and the social media are continual aspects of the developing technological world with significant transformations. Many elemental sectors of the world in different fields continually employ the use of social media in maximizing profits. Some of these sectors include multinational businesses, companies and organizations. In the case of these organizations, the companies through advertisements often use the social media as a tool for marketing of different products. The social media have played a role as a meeting place that connects many people from different regions of the world. This meeting place enables business people to meet with their clients, thus enabling the buying and selling of goods online through the improved technologies in the world today. Therefore, it is undoubtedly that the use of social media has come along with several potential positive influences, which have been beneficial to the entire world (Chatfield, Akbari, Mirzayi, & Scholl, 2012, p. 7). On the other hand, the use of social media has had relative effects on the personal and social behavior of the users. The largest portion of the internet users is the younger population especially the teenagers. Therefore, the younger population is more vulnerable to internet use than the older population, most of who have a predefined purpose anytime the use the internet.
The younger generation is also susceptible to aping some of the habits displayed on the social. Therefore, it proves difficult to limit them on the use of social media gadgets such as tablet, computers and phones. These young people have full access to the internet using such platforms, which exposes them to a variety of things that shape the manner in which they dress, talk or cat in the social settings. Evidently, the internet has considerably more influence on the social behavior and perspectives of the younger generation than it has on the older generations.
Effects of the Social Media and Web Interaction
The use of the social media and web sharing has both positive and negative influences on the social interaction and general perceptions and behavior of the users. These effects vary across different users, generations and intentions. Both the younger and the older generations have variant intentions while using the internet. Since the internet and the social media is a global phenomenon, the influence of the internet also widely depends on the overall perceptions of the users from different regions of the world. Whether the internet, positively or negatively influences the social interaction and behavior in the social settings, the degree of the effects remains widely dependant on the users’ general attitude towards the social media.
General Positive Influences of the Internet
The internet is the most crucial element of these web interactions, and it encompasses the use of social media platforms. These positive influences do not vary with regions but vary with the purpose of the users regarding the use of the social media. Use of the social media facilitates web interactions with people and organizations from different locations in the world. Therefore, these effects affect all individuals in the world who use the internet to facilitate web interactions, especially using the social media.
Firstly, the internet is a tool for research. The use of internet facilitates easy and organized research of different aspects by scholars and researchers in specified organizations. Scholarly use of the internet enables students to carry out their research promptly. The social media come in as a tool to exchange ideas and ideologies concerning different aspects by the students. Many of the social media platforms comprise of different types of forums on different topics. The aim of these forums is to enable the users to interact through the websites and discuss proficiently concerning different issues and subjects. The internet also enables marketers and market researchers in different organizations to conduct market research concerning different aspects such as consumer trends, market opportunities and market trends among others. These organizations often use the social media platforms to advertise their services and products. Moreover, the social media platforms like facebook, twitter and Instagram enables the buyers and sellers to interact and reach agreements concerning different sales. Lastly, the use of the social media has facilitated communication among people from different regions of the world. Enhanced communication using social media platforms has been elemental in increasing efficiency and promoted flexibility in different fields and organizations such as the health, business and education sectors among many more others.
The internet enhances economic development in different regions of the world. The use of the social media and web platforms gives people the opportunity to access significant information on the websites concerning the analysis of different economic powers across different regions in the world. This analysis enables different countries to rate themselves and rank themselves on the list (Gilbert & Karahalios, 2009, p. 10). Moreover, it motivates them to invest more in economic prowess and improve in their economic status. The internet and the social media are a corrective tool for people in the world. It influences people to understand their position in the social setting and improve where necessary. Economy is an important issue in the society that influences the development in all aspects. Therefore, the social media enhance web interactions among people from different regions who discuss elemental issues across the economic sector. Therefore, the social media enhance interactions of people in different regions of the world and influence their perceptions towards crucial issues in the world today.
Lastly, the internet is a tool of communication in the world. The development of the web has enabled many people to improve their social interaction using the social media platforms. Through the social media, people from different regions of the world share different new experiences and ideologies. They foster relationships by use of the social media and enhance communication by reaching out to people across the world (Hsu & Chen, 2008, p. 12).Communication enhances flexibility and efficiency in different sectors and operations in the entire world. Therefore, the social media enable individuals to adjust their communication habits and align their perceptions of communications with those of different individuals in different regions of the world.
Negative Influences of the Internet
Despite the many advantages that the internet and the social media have on the general habits of social interactions on the users, it also has certain negative influences on the same individuals. Most of these negative influences affect the younger generation by altering their general habits of interactions in the social settings, their modes of dressing, the manner in which they talk and at times their education. However, these negative influences do not only affect the teenagers but also affect the adults.
Firstly, the use of the social media has certain negative effects on the adult users. Misinterpreted messages on the social media platforms often lead to breakage of marriages because of poor advice. The social media platforms are prone to different types of messages from different people. Since the web encourages interactions from different people with different intentions, poor advice and lack of trust often creates misunderstandings in families. On several occasions, the trending of social media can put across the wrong message on an individual and spread it across various platforms, thus tarnishing the name of that individual. Additionally, the social media are often prone to hate speech, which might influence spiteful attitudes among individuals who do not fully understand how to deal with different messages on the social media platforms.
There are other several influences of the internet and the social media on the teenagers and the adults. Most of the teenagers are more vulnerable and susceptible to internet influences because they are immature in decision-making. Furthermore, they experience great peer influence, which promotes poor decision-making among them. Therefore, proper grooming and intervention from the adults is required to ensure that the youth stay on track about the social media and its effects. Firstly, the social media and the use of the internet as whole have negative effects on the mode of dressing of the growing generation. On many occasions, the use of social media is prone to different fashion and celebrities in different fields. The mode of clothing of some of the models, celebrities or important figures in various sectors is sometimes inappropriate. For instance, some of the teenage girls admire certain clothing by some of them public figures and end up putting on clothes that show disrespect to womanhood and in most cases could endanger them in public. On the other hand, clothing by some off the boys might depict them as hippie or criminals, which changes the public’s perspective and attitude towards them. Change of public attitude sometimes leads to depressions by those affected simply because they are not appreciated in the society (Kwahk & Ge, 2012, p. 14). Many of the drug issues among the young people originate from the use of the social media. Since the social media platforms are open to different interactions with different people in the world, the younger population is susceptible to admiration of some of the behavior the social websites. They are easily lured into these behaviors by tending to copy the lifestyles of their favorite public figures. Eventually, they end up ruining their lives and destroying their value and overall importance to the social settings. Moreover, the society becomes indifferent to such personalities who might in turn suffer depressions and withdrawals. The social media also spearhead pre-marital sex among the teenagers who have easy and full access to pornographic material on the internet (Smith et al., 2009, p. 16). These materials often lead to the urge among the teenagers to engage in sexual activities, which puts them in danger of contracting sexually related diseases and early pregnancies.
References
Chatfield, A. T., Akbari, R., Mirzayi, N., & Scholl, H. J. (2012). Interactive Effects of Networked Publics and Social Media on Transforming the Public Sphere: A Survey of Iran's Leaderless 'Social Media Revolution'. doi:10.1109/HICSS.2012.336
Gilbert, E., & Karahalios, K. (2009). Predicting tie strength with social media. doi:10.1145/1518701.1518736
Hsu, M., & Chen, H. (2008). Tag Normalization and Prediction for Effective Social Media Retrieval. doi:10.1109/WIIAT.2008.92
Kwahk, K., & Ge, X. (2012). The Effects of Social Media on E-Commerce: A Perspective of Social Impact Theory. doi:10.1109/HICSS.2012.564
Smith, M. A., Shneiderman, B., Milic-Frayling, N., Rodrigues, E. M., Barash, V., Capone, T., & Perer, A. (2009). Analyzing (social media) networks with NodeXL. doi:10.1145/1556460.1556497
