Social media has really caught on these days and has become a big part of

people’s lives. In my view, its rapid advancement is mainly attributed to the

introduction of smart phones, which improves accessibility to the Internet and

therefore social media. In this essay, the pros and cons of social media will be

analyzed on the basis of its influence on people’s lives.

In the early days of social media, it was simply used by people to update their

statuses, tell about their interests, and share their profiles and photos, or to check

those of their friends. However, it has become a world in which billions of people

live. It enables us to realize that we are living in a borderless global community.

Particularly, it has greatly contributed to cultural globalization. One of the chief

beneficiaries of this is the Korean boy group BTS. They have constantly interacted

with their fans from around the world via social media, even before their debut.

Consequently, they were able to build a strong fan-base and gained global

recognition in a short time.

But, some argue that social media is a waste of time because it makes people

superficial. Its users tend to get stressed by posts that are getting less likes or

fewer followers, as the number of likes and followers is considered as important in

social media. A growing number of people are feeling the burden of being subject

to other people’s reactions. So, they try to upload attention-grabbing posts while

censoring themselves. Such posts which include bragging about good looks,

luxurious life-styles and eye-catching products are generally posted by celebrities

or influencers. In fact, many people admire those things and feel a separation

between those and their realities.

Social media can also harm your mental health because there are internet haters

abusing their freedom of expression. For those who simply post hateful comments

or spread false rumors in cyberspace, social media acts as an outlet to express

their inner feelings. Sadly, it happens a lot and has become a serious social issue.

Very recently, two Korean female stars committed suicide because of extreme

depression caused by their online haters’ constant mean comments.

Despite the drawbacks mentioned above, social media has played a great role as

a means of accessing information. Because videos are easily shared and viewers

can fully concentrate on them, they are increasingly becoming more mainstream

than texts or pictures to get information. YouTube is at the center of social media

platforms nowadays. Its core function is to present and share videos. Anything can

be uploaded by anyone but also specific information from experts can be

uploaded too, everything is available here. Over a billion people take advantage of

it every day and it has become one of the best global search engines.

In addition, social media can contribute to a free democracy. It has enormous

power to marshal crowds by spreading the people’s voice. The current Hong Kong

protest over a China extradition bill can be an apt example. To attract more people

to the protest, the leaders of the demonstration use social media. As a result,

millions of people assembled throughout the country, most of them being young

Hong Kongers in their teens and twenties. The protests are streamed live on

Facebook and YouTube, so the whole world can monitor the situation in real time.

Ironically, however, social media enterprises have generated most of their revenue

through an anti-democratic way. One mistaken belief the users have is that things

they post on social media are personal. By using a legal loophole, social media

companies make money from their personal information. Everything you do on

social media has been secretly recorded and analyzed by data aggregators, and

then your digital identity is unwittingly sold to outside companies such as

advertising companies.

In conclusion, I am convinced that social media has become versatile in this day

and age. It will continue to make an effort to help users put their entire social

experience online. Although there are still some problems to be solved, it will be

interesting to watch its next steps and the market reaction.