Social Media – A Boon As Well As A Bane

We live in a fast-paced world in which a major part of our life is conducted online on social media platforms. While Whats app, Facebook. Instagram et all have far-reaching advantages of bringing the world closer, they have numerous pitfalls attached to them as well. This is primarily due to the fact that the extent of their reach and influence has to be properly understood and appreciated by their users.

Cyberbullying is rampant on social media. Young children often find themselves at the receiving end of barbed comments and ridicule by their peers. These could permanently scar the impressionable mind of many a youngster. Social media etiquette and the harsh consequences of online bullying should be explained to children. The School and Parents need to work in tandem here.

Social media in today’s world is encouraging more and more people to become exhibitionists of their lifestyle and interests. It is becoming for some an addiction of sorts. Many feel a need to flaunt their lives on these platforms.

However, there are some individualistic people who refuse to be pulled into this vicious trend of uploading all their movements online. Such people are safeguarding their privacy no doubt, but oftentimes as they go through the various social media handles and observe the seemingly colourful lives of their friends and acquaintances, they are inadvertently hit by the realization of their own uneventful and listless existence. The online world is relatively a new phenomenon in our life. With the passage of time, it will become an established facet of our lives and we would have learnt to conduct ourselves discreetly on it. Till such a time, it will continue to make exhibitionists out of some and dissatisfied individuals out of others.

In the times that we are living in nowadays, it is imperative that young children are informed about how to conduct themselves on social media platforms with responsibility,  from an early age. Schools should work in conjunction with parents to make youngsters aware of the dangers lurking online in the form of cyber blackmail and cyberbullying to name a few. Parents need to monitor the content being viewed by their youngsters from time to time.

Image via Unsplash

Vinita Mohan

A Writer, Poet and a former Teacher who is an avid painter, practices Reiki , is

Learn More