Social Media: Destroyer or Creator

One of the biggest debates ever since the invention of social media is whether it is good or bad; the older generation, i.e. parents born before or close to when the internet was being launched, are quite worried about how their children are no longer physically active unlike their own childhood where things like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, to name a few, never existed.
With technology advancing at a rapid pace, one cannot afford to be left behind in today's day and age. A lot of parents reluctantly allow their children access to social media outlets. However, today, it is becoming a necessity.
Advertising companies, educational institutes, even news channels prefer social media outlets as they know that majority of the population is glued to their phones or some form of electronic device.
If someone were to ask you, what is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning, what would your answer be? Majority would answer 'we check our phone for any messages or alerts and quickly scroll through our social media accounts just to stay up to date'; there is no denying that we are guilty of this.
Throughout the day, everyone is glued to their phones, even at work, our e-mails are synced so that no matter where we are, we hear a 'ping' and out comes our phone. As much as people would like to think that social media is just for millennials, that is not true at all.
There are, of course, both sides to this coin. Applications like Facebook and Snapchat help us stay in touch with our family and friends, especially those who are physically far away. All you have to do is share a picture showing what you are doing, et voila! Everyone who is on your list or is following you is now updated with what you are doing.
Some people ask whether this is directly linked with vanity, or perhaps addiction? One can argue that it was via social media that they found out about a trouble in their neighbourhood, or that a friend was in need and they were able to reach out.
Students are generally very young and their minds are quite susceptible to all sorts of things. They can be misled quite easily and might even be a part of something they have close to zero knowledge of.
This danger does exist, however, it has existed in various forms before the internet was around; only thing is that we did not have these many outlets and a lot could be controlled. That being said, it is a very strange thought to consider what life was like before social media.
Last year we all, or most of us, heard about a 'social credit' system that was implemented in a city in China. Through this, the ratings of a person can move up or down based on their behaviour.
It is safe to say that we are far from perfecting this system and it can be easily abused. However, this is just one example of many. End of the day the decisions lies in our hands. It is up to us to decide whether we use it positively or in an adverse manner.

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