Yes and no. Unfortunately, there’s more bullying that goes on online more than anything in today’s world. I do know that bullying starts online and it turns into real life bullying in many situations. It does actively create more situations in which someone is bullied because bullying starts online in some cases.
Not as often as I used to. I mean, I check WhatsApp to message my friends but I hardly look at twitter, insta or sc these days.
Benefits:
It helps you stay connected with friends and family who have moved away or those you can’t meet regularly. It’s a quick form of communication depending on how you use it. I guess it’s also easier for some people to talk online as well. It also helps us stay updated on what’s going on around the world/people we care about. (Depending on what you keep up with). It can be used to spread awareness and educate others on topics that are often misunderstood.
Cons:
It can be addictive and distracting at time. Scrolling through insta or twitter instead of doing your work was something I was guilty of. I also talk less online these days which makes people think that I don’t want to speak to them which isn’t the case, I’ve just always preferred doing things in real life. We can become to reliant on it and sometimes it can be detrimental to one’s actual social life.
For example, when I went to Disneyland with my family, my mother only wanted to snapchat everything and take selfies with my dad + my sister was mainly WhatsApping her friends and taking a lot of pictures. Sometimes it can be too much ;—;
I only use WhatsApp because that’s what people in my home country mainly use so I talk to my sister and friends.
I’ve never liked Snapchat though and prefer Twitter, Tumblr or (on a lesser note) Insta. I mainly like the content which I stumble across.
I was part of the insta community before I joined was a part of the forums community so I have many memories linked to that. I only use it for art now and to keep up with online friends and artists.
Twitter and Tumblr are definitely for the content though.
At the moment, I believe it will become a bigger part of people’s lives because of how significant it has become to our generation’s ‘social life’ BUT, the future is uncertain so you never know, things might take an unexpected turn.
Surprisingly, I’m not on social media that much. I’m on the internet a TON, although, I wish I wasn’t, but that is just the time we’re living in. I think I will eventually use it more, but I am trying to hold off on that.
So far, I’ve only used Instagram.
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There was a time in my life, probably ages 11-14 where I only used to text people but I mainly used my phone for the internet but then I wanted to be involved in social media
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I’m not on any social media myself. I just think it’s a waste of time and I would rather write down my thoughts & feelings in a diary instead of advertising certain things to the world where people can use anything against me.
Bump 
Added a discussion tag 
Ohhh, interesting! A research was published by the UvA (University of Amsterdam) showing social media has more positive than negative effects on children.
44% feels more confident about themselves if they compare themselves to others online and 40% is proud of themselves and 41% is inspired by social media.
While the negative feelings are less common, 22% feels jealous cause of social media sometimes, and insecurities (21%) and feeling down cause of it (19%) are also way lower than the positive feelings.
However I don’t know if I do feel positive seeing those feelings, every 1% that feels down or bad in whatever way is 1% too much in my opinion. And in my opinion the positives aren’t even that positive if not even half of the people experience it like that.
How do you guys feel about this research?
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Interesting perspective.
Why does social media even exist? 
SociBump
I have no problem with it, but it’s taken over… and still taking over
What do you guys think of the way social media is being used during the lockdowns? People really are killing boredom on there now.
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I might have gone a bit overboard. 
How often do you use social media?
Every day.
What do you think are benefits of social media and what do you consider downsides of them?
The main benefit for me would be to easily be able to interact with my friends, just talk and share stuff with them. I also think that social media is great for staying in touch with friends and relatives, reconnect with people and find new friends. It also makes it possible to discover new information, find inspiration and also just stay updated about what’s up in the world.
Downsides are that social media is addictive and can become very distracting. Some people also tend to think that they can act however they want to just because they’re on internet and can hide behind an alias. Other downsides of social media are cyberbullying, “fake news”, annoying influencers and advertisements. (I’m getting grumpy and old.)
Which social media do you prefer and why?
I probably use Instagram and snapchat the most. I used to post something every other year on my private Instagram account but now it’s been three years since the last post hehe. I go on there to see what my friends are posting and just enjoy it. I use snapchat to talk to my friends and it’s nice and easy to send every day pictures to each other there.
Do you think social media will advance even more and become an even bigger part of our lives or do you think it will get less?
There will most likely come new social media apps in the future and the platforms will evolve along with the advancements in technology. It might be used differently in the future and look differently. Probably more AR, VR and AI incorporated. (And yes, I just felt like throwing them in to look smart.)
I’ve noticed a rise in followers on my Episode Instagram account and I’m not very active there because I’m on the forums all the time. So I guess people are more active on social media/the internet? Both for the better and/or the worse?
I’ve deleted all social media except twitter. Just coz i gotta know what’s happening with my fav celebs yano.
It wasn’t good for my mental health so i deleted it all.
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Hahaha, important stuff!
Oh yeah… There are some parts of social media that are really unhealthy. Happy to hear that you made the decision. 
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Yes, i just gotta know what’s happening with Eliza Taylor Morley.
Thank you 
.
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Going to answer this one now, the judgemental side is the one I hate the most. I’m going to relate it to the terms “virtue signalling” and “poser”. Now after googling and looking at both of these definitions they both imply feigning an interest in something in order to be liked or seem “cool”.
But how are we to judge whether somebodies interest in something is genuine just based off social media? The answer is we can’t I’m not going to put a tracking device on them or monitor their bank statements to see if they are donating or going to protests. I also can’t see if someone is actually educating themselves so why should I assume that they aren’t?
I’m not going to deny people using social media to build a different image of themselves but unless you actually know them there’s no way you can know what their intentions are behind posting stuff.
The way I see social media is that it’s kind of like an online bedroom, you put pictures of your family, friends (well some people do) or you put pictures of things you care about, you repost the things you agree with, or disagree with to explain why you disagree with it. The difference is that other people can see, the way I see it is if people don’t like what you’re saying the mute or unfollow button is always there.
My point is that not everybody cares about likes, I definitely don’t. I rarely even post because I’m afraid of being judged. I know that some people do care about likes but not everybody does, some people just genuinely want to have a space where they can share things and see that there are other people who agree. It can provoke a conversation.
Sometimes I think that people would prefer it if we all just shut up about the things we care about because clearly no matter what we do or say we’ll be told it isn’t enough. You have no way of proving that somebody doesn’t actually care about something merely based on their social media.
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It kinda relates to the mentality some people have of “I don’t like what you’re saying therefore you shouldn’t say it”
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Hmm…we’re had sooo many new user in the past few months. I was wondering what they thought about social media.
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