In recent years, more and more people’s voices can be heard through the development of social media. It was hardly imagined imaginable two decades ago, but now we are living in the era of social media. Social media has introduced many questions about the rules for connecting people. Still, there are also some societal issues caused by these changes. Social media brings pros and cons to us, and changes our life sharply.
First of all, with social media, we are living in “many voices, one world.” This means everyone’s voice can be heard and everyone’s opinion should be noticed. On social media, we can share our opinions freely, and there is no need to be afraid of the force from a powerful level, even the threats like the twitter account tweeted at JK Rowling. Although that twitter account’s comment is inappropriate, social media can not pre-emptively ban all hostile messages from users. Furthermore, we can connect people easily through social media. We share our life with our foregin friends or relatives who live abroad, and interact with some famous people as well. For example, Elon Musk used to talk to people on Clubhouse, and people are excited to talk to him on social media.
Second, social media also brings some cons for society, in that people are more polarized than before. When the Internet developed, most people believed that there is more information we can get, and more opinions we can accept. However, the phenomenon has not happened, what we are living in are a lot of echo chambers. People in the digital era intend to stay in their comfort zone, which means they cannot accept other different views. What they get is always the same opinion as they want to know, and this consequence results in our society becoming polarized. Otherwise, some celebrities are in danger when they meet some extremists, as they not only leave threatening messages, but really do those things.
In conclusion, we live in the digital era, we need to have a wide heart to embrace different aspects, respect different values, and ensure that we all follow the ethical rules of social media norms.
Written by Eddie C.
Edited by Ari B.