Is Social Media Dangerous_ Essays - Articles, Digital Media

Tiffany Roberts Mr. D'Ambrosio CP ELA 12, Period 3 May 2, 2019 With the invention of the internet, a new tool for endless person and social advancement came with it. It is easy to see how the invention of the internet has advanced society in terms of math and science, personal development and made day to day life simpler and easier. It is also possible that over usage of this tool can lead to negative effects. The internet allows for online classes and universities for advancing education, helping to find jobs faster and easier, buying any product that comes to mind and having it delivered in days or minutes and connecting to those around and around the world. Many scientific advancements came about with computer programs with internet based servers to connect with others have contributed to projects such as the Orion test flights, the testing stages of human exploration to Mars, and the Google Lens, a product that monitors glucose levels in diabetics. (Larsen). Before social media and the internet became mainstream, the way to commu nicate with penpals around the world was through letters. Prior to children being taught to use the internet, pen pal projects were frequent and used letters, and then emails, as the internet became more accessible to schools. Email is an early form of social media, along with blogs, Six Degrees, and Friendster. (History Cooperative) Blogs have been replaced with vlogs, video blogs that serve the same purpose blogs have and still do. Six Degrees and Friendster are two forms of social media that are no longer used. For the purpose of this paper, social media will be defined as online communication. Social media also depends on user-generated content. This is why typical websites and blogs do not get included in the world of social media. There are only certain people that can post to these sites, and there are significant restrictions on the types of content that get uploaded. The typical social media that comes to mind such as Snapchat and Instagram have no restrictions, excluding pornographic and violent content. These forms of social media are user friendly and allow anyone who wishes to create an account to post. Social media's origin is considered to be Samuel Morse's first telegraph, which he sent in 1844 between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, as it was the first wireless connection to communicate. (History Cooperative) However, this origin does not meet the definition of social media mentioned previously. With the definition created before, the origin of social media would be in the 1970s, when the internet first came to the public, however most computers were much too expensive for the average household. (History Cooperative) It was not until the 1980s and 1990s that the internet became more mainstream. (History Cooperative) Six Degrees is created as the first social media outlet in 1997, and coming out of use in 2001. (History Cooperative) Friendster came about as competitor to Six Degrees in 2002, and remade itself in 2011 as a gaming site. (History Cooperative) These sites paved the way for other sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many others. With these sites and apps, there are also dangers that come with it, such as identity theft, data misuse, oversharing, and malicious links. (Banerjee) As long as you have common sense while using the internet, it is a tool for recreation, work and other activities. Some social media and overall internet common sense is to avoid spam profiles, such as not adding account of people that are not personally known, not oversharing on social media profiles, and identifying fake apps, malware and suspicious links. (Banerjee) The overall lesson to be learned for social media is that if you don't know, don't completely trust it, or feel in any way suspicious to avoid it, not click on it, and move along. As for oversharing on a social media profile, this can contribute to avoiding a robbery, avoiding being hacked, and protecting personal information. (Internet Safety 101) Many young people and those who are new to the internet and social media feel the need to share every little detai l, however this can help aid hackers in guessing a password and security questions.