The advancement of social media sites has reshaped the societal experiences of many people across the world. A substantial part of the world's population is either on social media sites or on both of them. These social media sites include Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Connect or Snap Chat. Social media has become a medium in which people communicate, get news and express themselves to the world. Others also date and meet their life mates on social media sites. The network accommodates all kinds of users. It brings together long lost friends and builds new bonds that might never have existed. The most striking thing about social media is that it gets refined day by day. The user interface in the social media platforms keeps improving making it fun to use. The ability to view the status of people on the WhatsApp keeps people on toes in checking out what their friends posted. It also motivates people to post their best photos. The danger of displaying only the best pictures in social media is that people portray themselves as perfect to the public and yet hide their deep-seated imperfections and inferiorities. That is the reason why most people seem flawless in the social media platforms, but in reality, their facade does not match the image displayed on the social media platforms.
Addiction to Social Media
Addiction to social media especially among the teen is another disadvantage of advancement of technology in that area. Teens are wasting a lot of time on social media in a way that is unhealthy and unproductive. The addiction has affected their social face to face interactions. All the services found in the social media platforms seem to have every detail of fun but yet miss the essential components such as having one on one conversations, having a hearty laughter or smile or even experiencing a warm hug. Therefore, as the current generation celebrate the continued advancement of technology in social media platforms, there is need to question the moral fabric and the direction of humanity.
Annotated Bibliography
Manovich, Lev. (2011). Inside Photoshop. Computational culture: a journal of software studies. Retrieved: www.Computationalculture.net/2011/12/06/inside-photoshop/
Lev Manovich in his article focuses on how contemporary media uses specific software to edit, create, organize and share some of the digital media in the form of photos, video clips, and graphics. Some of the software cited in this article include Photoshop, illustrator, flash, Aperture, and Maya. Others are consumer level apps such as iPhoto which are useful in the social media platforms that include Twitter as well as Instagram.
The article assesses the impact of these viewing, editing, and media authoring software on social media and how it has affected people's perception of media, especially social media. The article is specific to the Adobe Photoshop software. The report also gives general guidelines on the building of technology around Photoshop software for efficient performance. The work confirms the presence of continuous and deliberate efforts towards the enhancement of social media through designing of software such as Photoshop.
Williams, R. (2013). Television: technology and cultural form. London: Macquarie University.
The article examines the impact of television on the cultures of the people. The author of the article seeks to establish the cause and effect relationship that exists between the advancement of technology and the changing of the culture. According to the author, television has revolutionized the way people view and obtain news. William presents two types of people who gauge the impact of video on culture; some say that TV is not the cause of culture shift. The other group is of the opinion that technology and more so television is the main reason for a culture shift. The relevance of this article is to help us examine how other types of technology and variety of media such as social media has affected the contemporary culture.
Boyd, D. (2014). It's complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. New Haven: Yale university press
The author of this book, Danah Boyd has done more than a decade of fieldwork interacting with teenagers and interviewing teens all through the United States of America. In his book, Boyd acknowledges the difficulty that is brought about by the social media platforms and the networked life of the teens. She fears that life might become more difficult and uncertain in the future due to the continued advancement in technology, especially on the social media platforms.
It is clear the Boyd contributes to the growing concern of many parents concerned about the direction teens are taking. Teens lack adequate time for useful activities as they spend the whole day checking the happenings in social media and chatting with friends. Additionally, the question of privacy, identity, and online bullying is one that has refused to go away. However, Boyd also acknowledges the positive impact of social media platforms and advancement in technology on the same. According to her, social media platforms are a platform for teens to seek and gain information. It is the platform where they can express themselves and contribute to matters of national importance. The relevance of her acknowledgment is that social media has its fair share of pros and cons.
Christy, M. & Lee, M. (2011). Online social networks: Why do Students use Facebook? Computers in Human Behaviour. Vol. 27(4), pp. 1337-1343. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.07.028
The academic article explores the reasons why students use Facebook to connect with the external world in search of knowledge and perspectives from other students across the globe. According to the authors of this article, online social networks have become popular among the students as a way of sharing information. The findings of this research from a sample of one hundred and eighty-two students indicated that the key driver of this behavior is the need for social presence and social influence. The article confirms the growing desire for people not only the students, to increase their online social presence.
New digital media and especially online social platforms have reshaped the culture and mannerisms of people especially the young population. It has brought both good and bad to the society as well as new challenges and opportunities. The problem presented by the advancement of online social fora pertains human interactions. Evidence suggests that people have become less social in real terms as they embrace the new space of online social forums. Furthermore, the advancement of these platforms and enhanced user interface has led to people portraying a perfection they cannot match in real terms. On the same vein, the new digital media has accelerated the pace of globalization and continued to revolutionize information sharing, and business operations; more and more firms are marketing their products through online platforms.
