Social media is one of the biggest gifts of technology in the present-day world. It has become an important part of lifestyle for many of us.

With the index of technological culture hitting high, we have started experiencing impact of social media in our lives, too. This activity has a tremendous impact in shaping the society we live in.

Recent studies show that there has been a level of change in the psychology of people with the introduction of social media. They interact with people in multiple ways, beyond restriction of time, thanks to social media, which is not possible through Television, radio, newspapers or magazines.

This kind of access to social media, I believe, has resulted in a major impact in how people behave in the society. -

Back when social media was not introduced, people used to believe only the story told from the side of a party and there was not much place for interaction and analysis.

These days the social media platform has made it easier for people to talk about the product or service or events and discuss its good and bad aspects and change the image of the products, services or event in no time. This helps change the opinion and perspective of an individual. This is how people have utilized this fast medium of communication to pass the information around the globe.

Let us take some few examples from the recent past. Twitter and Facebook have mostly played a vital role in generating trendings that last for a certain period of time. There had been a lot of trending hash-tags on social media in the past years such as #prayfornepal #modiinnepal #prayforparis #backoffindia #gohomeindianmedia etc.

Some of these trendings helped generate millions of donations and awareness in a short span of time. Some major political changes have also been made because of people's interaction through social media. The trendings like #occupywallstreet and the Egyptians' demonstration for resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was possible because of social media.

There are also bad things that happen on account of social media such as generation of negative or misleading opinion. Some social media posts are even involved in misleading people and spreading false rumors.

Many of the posts we view contain pictures and titles that are intentionally used only for click-bait purposes while the serious topics are utilized for the marketing of one's product. Some people use social media to brainwash the people's opinion and lead them in the wrong direction.

Some even create hate groups in the name of different segments of the society and negatively influence them. Some social media pages also share false news and unreliable information which might create chaotic and unhealthy environment in the society. And some trends only serve as a topic people talk about for few days. If we do not control these issues on time they might create bigger hassles.

In my point of view, the things people do or post on social media should have some value, credibility and some objective.

As we all know that with great power comes great responsibility. If the social media is not used with caution some negative impact begins to creep into the society. If we are heavily dependent on social media it will start controlling our life instead of us controlling it. So, before it is too late let's think twice before whatever we post and share on social media.

Youman.maharjan@gmail.com 

 
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