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Most peopleengage in social networking on a daily basis. But do the benefits of social media really outweigh their disadvantages? Do they benefit us?

We owe much to the development and expansion of the Internet. Ithas enabled one of themain technological and cultural revolutions in recent history: the emergence of social media.Over the last 10 years, onlinesocial media have grown extremely fast and become central to the lives of hundreds of millions of people. Social platformssuch as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google Plusallow us to communicate with family, friends, and people that we would have never had the chance to meet regularly. Some social mediasuch as LinkedIn, Skype, Slack and Meetup are becoming important tools for our work and business networking. To the extent that many cities are offering free public WiFi to their citiezens.However, although many people spent considerable part of their lives interacting with social media, others refuse to engage withonline social networking. Let's dissect some of the benefits and dangers of social networking.

Social networks allow us tokeep in touch with people that we meet at different points inour lives and reconnect with old friends thatwe may have not seen in years for various reasons. Online social media helpbridgepreviously insurmountablephysical distances. Before Facebook, it was difficult to follow what your friends were doing. You could writeemails, and before that letters, but the sense of proximity that people get by reading comments and things friends share and seing their pictures on the social media is something never achievedbefore.Instant messaging services, such as Whatsapp, and conference call software, such as Skype,add to this new feeling of proximity withpeople that may be leaving thousands of miles away.

Socialnetworks offer their users the capacity to get almost immediate access to information about things happening elsewhere. When something important happens in the world people often find out almost immediately throughsocial media. Just by spendingfive minutes on your Twitter,Facebook or Redditfeed you can learn about global social, cultural and economic events and trends. They even allow to shame the politicians and other people that have done or said something unethical or wrong.

These platforms also allow for global interaction with peoplefrom different backgrounds. Before social media, interacting with people from distant places was almost exclusively the privilegeof those who could afford travelling.Now through social networking siteswe often engage in discussions and can establish friendships with people very different from us. Somesocial media evenfacilitate people meeting face-to-face. For instance, networks such asCouchsurfing allow you tolive for some timewith people you mighthaveotherwise never met. Likewise somesocial networks specialized in datinghelp people meeting others and often establish long term relationships.

Thanks to the social networks some people and small companies can gainvisibilityfortheir products and creationswithout having to invest much in advertising. Social networks canalso very effective ways to find a job, a business partner or an employee.

Finally, social platforms, such as netivist, help to promote public participation and civic engagement. People have new means to express their views and defend causes they find worth fightingfor. Protest movements around the world, such as the Arab Spring, the Occupy Movement and the European Indignados employed social media for the mobilization and organization of protesters. At the same time, the use of social media, such as Twitter or Reddit, by Obama during his campaign for the White House is a good example of how politicians and citizens can interact more directly to the benefit of political participation and democratic processes.

However, social media may also have some negative effects on our lives and the way people interact. First of all, it is argued that social media may insulate us from the people that surround us. Although these platforms makecommunication easier and more flexiblewith those far away, they can have the opposite impacton our relationships with the people we live with. Who has not been in a family orfriends' reunion,where everyone is just looking at their smartphones or tabletsrather than speaking to each other?

Social networks serve to disseminate information, but the validity of this information cannot always be verified. Thus, social media can beused to spread rumors, propaganda, andmisleading information, now often referred to as "post truth" or "alternative facts."Sometimes this information can have negative impact on the lives of people. Apologies and rectifications tend not to reach as many people and travel as fast as flashy erroneous information. Harm is not always undone or compensated.

Social networking distracts us. Social media have become a source of entertainment but also a means of procrastination. With people oftenchecking Facebook, Whatsapp, or Twitterevery five minutes, it is likely that their productivity at work diminishes. We are constantly bombarded with notifications from social media. Many of them are of no use toour lives.Worse even, in many cases social media may turn into an addiction or obsession with negativepsychological impacts on our lives.

Privacy is also at riskbecausesocial media. Pictures and videos of everyoneare circulating through the internet. Even if we try to be careful, there is no way we can prevent other people from posting pictures ofus or our families on Facebook, Twitter or other social media. How many times have you found yourself removing a tag from a somewhat inappropriate picture taken at a party?Social media are also making it more difficult to separate our professional and social lives. We end up being "Facebook friends" with colleagues, and in some cases this maybackfire. Police surveillance and social media monitoring by governments may also make you feel uncomfortable.

Social media platforms store toomuchinformation about us. Potentially this information could be used by governments and corporations to control us. Most networkingplatforms extract large amounts of information from their users. It is difficult to understand the terms and conditions of use of the platforms, usually captured by long and extremely technical legal documents. Moreover, this information collected about us is not always secured. There have been notable cases in which hackers have managed to steal information about thousands of users.

Finally, these platforms have become fertile grounds foroffences and crime. Many people suffer stalking and bullying through social networks. This has led to dramatic cases where users have ended up committing suicide. Social networks have also beenused to collect information about victims by kidnappers and burglars. Many terrorist organizations recruit members and raise funding through social media.

Watch these videos contrasting the pros and cons of social media:

We summarize the main arguments in favor and against social media and online networking:

Pros

Cons

Social networking has drastically changedour lives. These platforms offermanyadvantages butalso have some downsides. Do you think their impact is overall positive or negative for society? Are they beneficial or detrimental toour social lives?

Social networking pros and cons: Do social media make our lives better? Vote and explain why or how do you think they affect your life. Invite others to join and help us making this discussion more interesting

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