To What Extent Should The Use Of Social Media Be Controlled Today

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1. To what extent should the use of social media be controlled today?

Social media is now the top online activity in the world, showing no signs of abating. People are frequenting top social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to connect with friends, share information and even document every aspect of their daily lives. While this has made the world a smaller place, this has also led to unintended consequences. Cases in which social media is misused or abused can endanger the safety of innocent victims, destroy reputations and damage relationships. Just as importantly, societal norms and laws should also apply to this medium. This has sparked debate on the need to regulate social media. In exploring this issue, one might look to the …show more content…

For instance, people are freely sharing personal information online, inadvertently helping criminals to plan their crimes. According to an article on digitaltrends, “cyber criminals can quickly and easily find out when a person’s home is empty because the homeowner might post geotagged1 and time-stamped2 info both about their home address and their vacation residence,” (Schiffner.) In a British survey of convicted burglars, 78% revealed were taking advantage of social media to learn about their would-be victims including whether they were home or away on holidays. (“What’s Your Status?”) Information shared socially, whether made public or private, is never truly private. It is largely dependent on one’s ability to properly discern and manage one’s friendships or followers across platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The open nature of these platforms indirectly opens up our personal information. Being a ‘friend’, sometimes grants one access to the other parties’ other friends while similarly exposing your own information to the latter. This can lead to cyberstalking3 or even identity theft. With the ease through which information is obtained, criminals may be able to construct a victim’s profile and even their passwords, resulting in serious financial …show more content…

Paired with the easy access through mobile phones, large portions of time being spent checking their social media accounts, often to the detriment of their studies and even face-to-face social interactions. This is a form of addiction, which needs to be addressed by placing controls around usage. In a study by the National Institutes of Health, Internet Addiction Disorder was said to ruin lives “by causing neurological complications, psychological disturbances and social problems.” among other issues and possible consequences. (Kuss, Griffiths.) Hence, it is crucial that restrictions placed around the usage of social media are sufficient and