Effects of Social Media and Television on Individuals and Society (Essay Sample)

Effects of social media and television on individuals and society
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Institution
Effects of social media and television on individuals and society
Social medial may be referred to as being an interconnection of web based applications which are dependent on involvement of a large group of individuals as opposed to a centrally managed content provision (Burton, 2010). Presently, society has access to social media through platforms such as twitter, YouTube as well as mobile gadgets such mobile phones, laptops and tablets (Burton, 2010). These platforms have gained increased connection to traditional forms of media such as television, radio and newspapers (Bryfonski, 2012). As a result, Social media is able to offer new prospects, activities and interactions. Consequently, social media and television have diverse effects on well-being and development of individuals and society as a whole.
Learning
Television is able to offer a positive as well as negative effect. A number of studies have looked at impact that television has on our society, focusing on adolescents and children. Television is one means through which society acquires learning (Wohn et al., 2013). As an example, children who watch Sesame Street acquire fundamental lessons relating to cultural harmony, kindness, cooperation, elementary mathematics as well as alphabet via an educational format on television (Wohn et al., 2013). A number of public television shows mimic visits to zoos and animal parks as well as other socially important settings which have proven useful in enhancing pro-social learning. This mode of learning has helped improve reading as well as erudition skills (Wohn et al., 2013). However, television has been found to consume a lot of young peoples’ time distracting them away from books and school work as a whole. Research shows that 1 to 2 hours of unsupervised television for young children has potentially negative effects in relation to school performance.
Poor Nutrition
Since television draws vital time from important activities such as exercise and play, kids who indulge in watching television end up being unfit due to excessive consumption of fats as well as snacks with elevated energy content (Vromen et al., 2014). Consequently, television has led to increased cases of obesity since a number of commercials encourage poor nutritional practices. Fat levels within advertised merchandises is well above recommended levels and a number of foods which appear in television commercials are those with high calorific content such as candy, fast foods (Dietz & Strasburger, 1991). A very small percentage, about 4 percent of commercials promoting healthy living appear during children’s television time. Time spent watching television has a direct relation to increased levels of cholesterol, particularly in children (Vromen et al., 2014). Television has been found to contribute towards eating disarrays, particularly in girls, who follow thin models who appear during television commercials and other programs. Eating while viewing television has led to poor communication among family members promoting habits that may be considered poor during meals.
Promotion of Violence
Social medial and television have generated desensitization of violence. For instance, music videos shown on television and online have had significant impact on behavior of youths and society in general. Presently, most youths have an attachment to gang behavior and well able to favor premarital indulgence (Healey, 2011). A majority of music videos, up to 75 percent, show explicit content, while most others, about 45 percent, contain violence promoting content, mostly against the female gender (Greenfield, 2014)). As a result, society has low respect for women, mostly treating them as inferior or objects of sex, particularly in commercial advertisement campaigns. In addition, such videos have promoted deceitful stereotypes. As a result, currently, amongst the youth and society as a whole, and particularly adolescents, there resides a normative sense of expectation in the context of resolution of conflicts, male to female relationship as well as race (Vromen et al., 2014).
Formation of identity and cohesion
Social media and television come with numerous merits as well. For instance, social medial has enhanced formation of identity, cohesion and building of community as well as creativity (Subrahmanyam & SÌŒmahel, 2011). Social media has progressively encouraged creation of content by young people which has allowed sharing of experiences important to individuals. This sharing informs well-being and encourages social cohesion. Construction of feeling of belonging and identity has a relation to means through which individuals connect emotionally with a certain community based online (Vromen et al., 2014). This connection allows sharing of norms together with identities with as well as through social media. As an example, youth in Australia make use of social media to establish, maintain and extend individual networks. They are also able to create appropriate personal as well as collective identities (Vromen et al., 2014).
Self-directed education and disengaged youth
Social media has also played a significant role in lending support to aspirations and self-directed education, particularly amongst youths who are disadvantaged. Operative social media inclusion in learning design is able to give motivation to youths who are disengaged enabling connectivity with learning provision and other forthcoming opportunities (Walsh et al., 2011). As an example, Australia’s high school project relating to rocket science was able to consolidate web 2.0 applications and technologies (YouTube videos), interactive App demonstrating concepts of wind tunnel testing together with videos demonstrating working mechanisms which were shared through social medial platforms (Walsh et al., 2011). This is an approach which was able to reach numerous youths otherwise disconnected from formal education systems. Multi modal resource together with mobile platforms allowed positive educational experiences with an orientation in direction of scientific innovation and technologies (Walsh et al., 2011).
Extension of both formal as well as informal knowledge
Social media has been able to extend both formal as well as informal knowledge based networks together with support systems. Since social medial has capacity to give support to learni...