P2

P2) Analyse the positives and negatives of social media

Questionnaire

a) Do you think social media has a positive impact on people in general?

b) Do you think it is safe?

c) Does social media make people more or less social in the real world?

d) Would you ever be able to delete your social media accounts? If not, why?

Response 1)

a) I think depending on the website you're using, it can create a positive impact on people because it is a source of entertainment. 

b) Unless your account privacy is all set up correctly, social media cannot be 100% safe. Predators or stalkers, or even catfish can use it to manipulate others or put them in danger.

c) I think it makes you a lot less social. It's almost as if people have forgotten how to have a proper conversation with others as they lack the social skills, which is ironic. 

d) I would be able to delete my accounts as I do not use them too often and I have never been obsessed like the young people these days. 

Response 2)

a) I don't think social media, especially Instagram has a positive influence on the younger generation. A lot of accounts you find here are what young people will look up to if they have a large following, so the way the present themselves is very important to the ones who look up to them. For example, if there is a girl with a large amount of followers promoting weight loss whilst staying extremely slim, young girls will want to copy them which may have harmful effects.

b) I think it is safe, as long as you only interact with people you're certain you know and have the right privacy settings. 

c) I think it makes people more social as they can make friends and meet them in the real world, if safe.

d) I would not be able to unless I had to as it is the only way I can contact most of my friends

Instagram 

Pros 

Instagram allows you to access and share photos with people who interest or are close to you. One of the benefits of this is if you don’t want everyone to see, you can alter your privacy settings. This essentially means you can lock people out from viewing your posts, profile and lists of your followers and people you follow. This is very useful especially if younger people or children are using this app as it will protect them from strangers or potential predators. If someone does want to follow you when your profile is set to ‘private’, you will receive a notification and be able to view this account before accepting or denying their follow request.

When people post photos of themselves it is mainly to gain likes and comments, in a positive way. It can be self-reinforcing and these likes and comments will generally help adults and children boost their self-esteem. It can also help children gain and maintain friendships, maybe even help them keep in touch with long distance friends they know or make. It’s also another way of making people feel as though their photographed events and moments in their life are important and worthy.

Recently, social media apps are seamlessly combined. This means Twitter, Facebook and Instagram especially have intertwined relationships. This is good to be aware of interconnections as it can help parents or guardians stay up to date on what a child is doing and how they are using Instagram through these other social media apps.

Using Instagram for businesses is good because it can quickly reach a large audience. You can also pay to have your posts featured or promoted, which will gain your followers and target audience.

Cons

Locations are easy to tag with Instagram posts which can be a pro for business reasons however not for most people or especially children. Location tags make it very easy for followers to find out exactly where and when a photo was posted, which allows them to track the person fairly easily. It may seem harmless to a young child, however predators or people with bad intentions can use them to their advantage. 

Due to the popularity of quick photo sharing apps, such as Snapchat, this feature is something now available in Instagram direct message. This can be dangerous in many different ways, as it invites followers to send and receive photos from the user. This is a prime spot for ‘sexting’ as it is fairly new and many parents do not yet know about it.

Hashtags are another feature that predators may use to discover new profiles, as many young people may things it is perfectly safe to use hashtags to describe their photos. However, this is usually what somebody will search for which will ultimately help them discover these accounts.

''The main problem social media has is its effects on our youth such as: * Cyber Bullying. The act of bullying someone over the internet. This can be done in a form of instant messaging or emails. * Cyber Stalking. The act of stalking someone online through various websites and networks. * Cyber Predators. The act of attempting to lure unaware kids to a place or location where they can be abducted.'' - https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Social-Media-Negative-Effect-FKCCKJY838RTS