Social media entails all the computer tools that are developed to facilitate the exchange and sharing of information, ideas, videos, and images among other things, between people in a network (Siddiqui " Singh 2016). The increasing use of social media has contributed to the drastic transformation of behaviour and lifestyle among the users.
Social media is associated with both positive and negative impacts on various fields such as education, business, and the society at large.
Some of the positive impacts of social media are bringing the people together and making communication easier and cheaper. Businesses are also able to get insights on their consumers and employ smart marketing strategies.
On the other hand, individuals who use social media regularly tend to lose the ability of having fruitful face-to-face interactions with other people.
Social media may also be used to bully or criticize someone, which affects the self-esteem of the individual. Social media has created a need for approval among the users, which is expressed through likes, retweets and shares on status updates (Njoroge 2013).
Young people make up the majority users of social media, and this has contributed to several changes in their behaviour.
Young people use social media to stay connected to each other, exchange useful information, get support, or start relationships.
Social media also poses some danger to the young people; they may end up interacting with strangers who may have bad intentions. For example, some cases of robbery, kidnapping, and murder have been linked to social media (Siddiqui " Singh 2016).
Over time, the use of social media has increased drastically all over the world, which means that it is here to stay. It is expected that its use will continue to grow and in future it will include other features, characters, and gadgets (Njoroge 2013). Human behaviour is expected to also change, to keep up with the technology advancements.
References
Siddiqui, S., " Singh, T. (2016). Social Media its Impact with Positive and Negative Aspects. International Journal of Computer Applications Technology and Research, 5(2), 071-075.
Njoroge, R. I. T. A. (2013). Impacts of social media among the youth on behavior change: a case study of University students in selected universities in Nairobi, Kenya.
