Social media is such a massive part of all our lives that information technology can no longer be ignored. The question is whether social networking sites are good for order.

As with everything, at that place are good things and bad things about social networking. And in this commodity we explore some of the positive impacts of social media.

girlfriends smiling
Image Credit: Marion Doss via Flickr

Ane of the biggest positives of social media is that it has never been easier to make friends. Simply a few decades ago it was pretty tough to connect with people, unless you were the overly outgoing type able to make conversation with anyone and anybody at a party.

The rise of smartphones helped alter this, connecting people in a new way, but then social networks sprang upwardly and the whole idea of friendship changed again. And at that place's no going back.

It's entirely possible to have hundreds of friends on Facebook. They may not exist friends you spend time with in the real globe, but they're friends nonetheless. There are several people I consider friends who I have never met in real life, just that doesn't lessen the connectedness we have thanks to our interactions on social media.

Social media can help y'all make and keep friends.

empathy heads nose-to-nose
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Each of us spends a trivial as well long talking most ourselves on social media sites. Which is perfectly natural. We're sharing our lives---the ups and downs, the twists and turns---with people we think volition care.

They by and large practice care, and volition tell you so. They will listen to what you have to say, and help you deal with any bug you may be facing. If this isn't the case, so you may want to detect new friends.

The signal is that by all of united states of america sharing our experiences, both good and bad, on social networks, we're able to empathise with each other. A friend may accept gone through a similar ordeal that you are currently going through, and they will be able to assistance you get through information technology.

You'll also be able to encounter for yourself that they made information technology out of the other side, that this effect didn't derail them, and that they are perhaps better for the experience. Which is why social media is good for you.

Social media tin can act as a kind of group therapy session.

telephone manhole cover
Prototype Credit: Robert Bejil via Flickr

Our fourth dimension is being stretched thinner and thinner by work and family commitments. But social networking sites offer a chance to communicate in a speedy and efficient manner, particularly when anybody involved is familiar with social media slang.

Writing a Tweet takes all of 20 seconds, and with cantankerous-posting to other social networks switched on, that update tin reach everyone you want it to reach (and probably more too) in an instant.

One of the reasons many people dislike making phone calls is the unnecessary barrack they necessitate. You can't just say what you want to say and then hang upwards. Because doing so is seen as rude. Instead, you accept to swap pleasantries earlier saying what you desire to say, and then swap more pleasantries before the conversation comes to a natural conclusion.

Social media allows you to alive a life unhindered by small talk.

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Steve Cadman via Flickr

It isn't merely your inner circumvolve of close friends and even closer family members that social networking sites allow you to communicate with easily and effectively. One of the good things nearly social media is its power to open the world up to yous, making it a smaller identify than information technology has ever been before.

So much so that I actually haven't a clue where many of my contacts reside. When it comes to social media, everyone is equal, regardless of location.

Family members living abroad can exist kept abreast of the latest happenings in your world as rapidly as those living next door. Friends yous haven't seen since schoolhouse, and who have since moved away, are able to keep in bear on. Social networking sites mean someone's concrete location has go a lot less of import.

Social media has fabricated the earth a smaller place.

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Katie Tegtmeyer via Flickr

There is no doubting that having social networking in our lives tin lead to relationships breaking up. But there is some other side to the story, which is that people are moving onto other, perhaps improve, relationships.

Social networks can put you (dorsum) in touch with people who you accept lots in common with, and that mutual ground is often the starting point for long-lasting relationships.

As painful as breakups can be, they tin sometimes be the right thing for all concerned. What'south to say that the new relationship, founded on the steps of Facebook, isn't the ane that will last? Even if information technology doesn't plow into a spectacular coupling, information technology could be the friendship that is needed at the fourth dimension. Which has to exist a positive thing.

Social media can assistance foster friendships and more than likewise.

metal news sculpture
Prototype Credit: Gerald Stolk/Flickr

New lines of advice have opened the world up in a big way. No more than so than when it comes to news, which tin can makes its fashion around the world and back once more with seconds.

Social media has taken this spread of news to the next level, with eyewitnesses able to report on news stories as they happen. Which means nosotros no longer need to wait for news crews and journalists to be dispatched to the middle of the action.

Of grade, some of yous will be wondering whether this is actually a skillful thing based on how much fake news is spread online. Only social media sites are even tackling that problem, increasingly labeling misinformation and directing users to better sources.

And then, this isn't the fault of social media, just the users willing to believe anything and everything they read online.

Social media helps news travel further, faster, keeping united states all more than informed.

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Scott Cutler via Flickr

As previously mentioned, social networking sites tin help y'all find people yous share interests with. Facebook, for example, asks you to list who and what you are interested in right from the start. This makes it much easier to find common footing with other users.

On Twitter y'all should exist following those who take something to say that you're interested in, making connections with agreeing individuals much easier than y'all would offline.

This does crave the sharing of information and giving up a certain corporeality of privacy. Which is enough for some people to decline social networking outright. Keeping central personal information private is necessary, simply sharing your likes and dislikes and interests and obsessions can actually contribute to an open gild.

Social networking sites make plumbing equipment in easier, equally long every bit you open upward a petty.

As with nearly things in life, at that place are positive and negative things about social networking and the sites that facilitate it.

Ultimately, when used in moderation, social media is neither good or evil. Instead, it's somewhere in between. And certainly capable of having a positive impact on society in the ways outlined in a higher place.

7 Negative Effects of Social Media on People and Users

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