Social Media: A time killer or a useful tool

Introduction:

Internet media is developing with the rapidly increased usage and understanding. The use of internet is not limited to young generation / teenagers only but it is widely use by children, aged, housewife, professional persons, businessmen, politician etc. also. Presently internet has its wide area with several activities relating to business, education, commercial, knowledge sharing, media sharing etc.  with mobile-oriented services like WhatsApp, WeChat and Facebook Messenger achieving the top social media ranking spots in some of the world’s biggest economies, it’s clear that much of our digital behavior is now converging around mobile devices. Ex. ‘Digital India’ now a days Facebook , twitter, whatsaap, Skype , LinkedIn, instagram,we chat , hike etc. are very  popular into youth of the world. These are some of the tools and technology associated with a recent phenomenon called social networking and is present everywhere.  Social networking has become part of the daily life experiences for an increasing number of people. The rapid adoption of social network sites by teenagers in the world raises some important questions.in the social networking services that promote the development of online communities of people. Social networking sites where users apply for membership and maintain their personal profile information in a centrally organized database. Each network member controls access to their profile by accepting or declining requests from other network members to be “friends”. Other than that there is additional privacy features available with this site so you can share publically only what you want to share. . By expanding and developing their network of friends, social networking members are able to maintain online relationships for work, study, special- interests or leisure- related purposes. Social networking services utilize the participation technology and software tools to facilitate communication and interaction between members.

Impact of Social Media and Usage of it:

A new born baby will not remain same as born baby; s/he will have changes physically as well as mentally. Same use of social media is rapidly increasing with wider range of use. People use social media as per their requirements.  As more people participate in social networking, the question becomes is it merely a social networking a time killer or a useful tool of development?

For better and practical presentation of this topic let’s assume for while media= press (M) and social = representative by social networking sites(S). In a press conference various journalist asks questions about various aspect and social will answer and give positive use of it also. We are going to judge that it is time killer or a useful tool.

M: What is the use of social sites?

S: it can be used for sharing of knowledge, ideas, media, platform to introduce you in the market without making heavy investment or extra efforts, making new friends, etc. With these new tools and this new knowledge, young people have a wide-open world to explore, learn, and share.

M: Is there any difference in making friends on social sites or face to face?

S: It allows real time conversations with someone from a distance. This provides the opportunity to continue relationships that in the past would have been too distant and to build new relationships with friends from around the world. 

M: People say the friends from around the world and continue conversations with them overwrite family relationship. Is it correct?

S: yes, But it is happen when over use of these site are done. You need to keep time for your families and friends of day to day life. Otherwise it may possible that you know very well a person living in Spain but you don’t know that who is your neighbor?

M: What type of Relationship are you taking about in second last answer?

S: It may be Business, Marriage etc.

M: Don’t you think Marriages over internet is less successive?

S:  social media opens up avenues for problems in social relationships that did not exist twenty years ago. As teens and tweens use more mediated forms of communication, the chance for miscommunication expands exponentially. Between texting and social media sites such as Facebook and Tumbler, youth communicate more easily with friends outside of school and extracurricular activities. But because of the lack of traditional social cues such as body language and facial expression, many will end up arguing with friends over issues that may not have arisen if they had been talking to one another face to face. But the relationship builds upon trust where the lack of trust and distraction is available there is no space for any relationship. It is based on individual’s nature. So social networking is not only reason of broken relationship but it gives opportunity to build relation.

M: How it is useful for Education?

S: Education is not only limited to 2+2=4 or law of gravity but how to cook is also part of education. We need to think broad about education. A new wave of learning through social media has opened up doors for young people to learn everything from foreign languages to how to write computer code and everything in between. This kind of access to knowledge and skill development is completely new, and in some ways youth benefit more than adults because of their familiarity with new media and their openness to using it as a source of learning.

M: Doesn’t it leads to diversion of kids?

S: the social networking is like a sea. Very large and having lots of content. One needs to be specific what s/he needs. There proper guidance about the use of social sites and internet content is required.

M: don’t you think pornography content is misleading and leads towards criminal activities?

S: One of the greatest challenges that youth face in negotiating new media revolves around sex. Not only is pornography more accessible than ever, but also even mainstream media tends to depict sexual behaviors without any mention of risk or responsibility. This creates a very real challenge for youth who may be relying on media to provide them with guidance and information about sexuality and sexual practices. As per as criminal activities concern, for the event like a  rap you can’t blame on social media and its sexual content. There are many affecting factors other than this only like law level of knowledge about sex, result of sex, attraction and individual control (vise a vise), appearance, lack of experience etc.  It can be controlled with the help of education and judicial system.

  

M: Doesn’t it takes too much time i.e. time wasting?

S: No, it is depending upon the user again it comes to individual’s perspective. One should be very clear with how much time devote to social media. Otherwise a housewife is taking with her family member who lives abroad on Skype for number of hours and other work of house is remain undone. So what is the difference between a TV serial or social media? Research conducted by Global Web Index suggests that the average social media user spends 2 hours and 25 minutes per day using social networks and micro blogs, with Argentinian and Filipino users registering the most, at more than 4 hours per day.

                

M: how it is useful to Children, housewife and retired persons?

S: in simple words it is the new way of entertainment for them. Till now we have only television, radio, computer and cinemas but these technological changes gave us a new way of entertainment. Children can get knowledge about new games, technology, music, etc. and share also. A housewife can organized her kitty party by making group of same friends, explore her delicious recipes in the world , etc. retired persons in India specially used to seat at temple , center/entrance of village “choro” , garden  etc. but now they can share their experienced on social sites like whatsapp, hike, Facebook etc. . They can read various content like magazines, newspapers, available on internet or posted at different social sites.

  

M: How social site use for carrier making?

S:      Various social sites having large opportunity for making a carrier. Some examples are as under:

SOCIAL SITE	PARTICULAR	NO. OF ACTIVE USER
Facebook	It provides facility to make a page of your business; art, talent etc. explore it and create the opportunity.	1.18 Billion – Monthly
Blogger	It is provide platform where you can show your writing skills.	Does not offer public statics.
Instagram & Pinterest	Photography. young people can use mobile devices to hone their filmmaking and photography skills as they grow and learn	150 million – Monthly &  70 million users worldwide
Linkedin	It is provide opportunity for professional people	364 million
Twitter	Mostly used by  Celebrity and thought sharing	More than 500 million users, out of which more than 302 million are active users.
Skype	Business meetings	International call market share – 40% in the year of 2014

M: any message for social media users?

S: keep experiencing the social media, enjoy its entertainment with due respect of other people’s content. Always look forward for the opportunity and grab it. Social media having opportunity, challenges, and entertainment. You have to decide what you want before use of social media. Thank you!

Conclusion:

We expect to see social media penetration reach one-third of the world’s population – likely by the end of 2015 – with new users in developing nations accounting for almost all of this growth. People are very much enjoying with their new friend “SELFIE”.it becomes a trend which followed by prime minister of country also. Basically social media provides huge platform to explore the world, introduce you in front of large audience. It has lots of opportunity and challenges but a positivity and negativity are the two sides of coin. There is win – win option is available because we cannot define social media as a time killer or a useful tool completely. It proves many times that it is a very useful tool and also proves it is time killer and useless. So now it becomes view of individuals. Ask yourself that “social media: a time killer or a useful tool”.

[NOTE: i wrote this for participating in paper presentation at national conclave of ca student, Rajkot. i took help of google for various information and detailed content for making this paper. Happy reading....!. Thank you. ]