How has social media effected us as a society?

I get so tired being asked this question: How has social media effected us as a society? Then, the follow-up question is: Is this in a positive or negative way? It is hard for me to decide whether or not social media has effected us as society in a positive or negative way. Pay attention to the pro and cons of public networking.

My young people, listen to me good. Are you paying attention? Be careful what you put online! I can not stretch this enough. According to a NYTimes article titled, The Web Means the End of Forgetting by Jeffrey Rosen, “Seventy percent of U.S. recruiters report that they have rejected candidates because of information found online, like photos and discussion-board conversations and membership in controversial groups”. Everything, and I mean everything, you put on the internet will be there for life. Hit the delete button. You can think that the”delete” button will make everything disappear if you want to. Everything will forever be there.

There was an essay written in 2015  name How the Technological Design of Facebook Homogenizes Identity and Limits Personal Representation by Ben Grosser stated, directly in his introduction, “Ever since its inception, people have used the technology of the Internet to represent themselves to the world”. Why do we do this? Why do we hide behind computer and phone screens because we are afraid to show people who we really are?

Don’t get me wrong. I do believe that there is a positive side to media, too. “One of the things that attracted me personally to Twitter was the immediate access to other sources of information” (Tommy Landry, Sept 2014.). I love the fact that I can have internet connection! It has made it so much more easier and simpler for me to catch up on some news and get all the latest  gossip. Its just right at my fingertips, literally!