Blog 5

This semester I have learned a lot about social media and its impact on society. I have also taken other classes that have informed me about social media and the control it has. Personally, I think it would be hard to completely regulate it, but there could be revisions.

I feel like a huge issue with social media that we discussed in class was the issue of privacy. Social media and our smartphones in general have no boundaries when it comes to protecting our privacy. The point that proves this theory the most to me is the fact that social media will give ads about something I was just verbally talking about. An example is that one time I was saying how I was in the mood for ice cream and a Ben and Jerry’s ad came on my Instagram. It is so obvious that they are listening in 24/7 and it is such an invasion of privacy. This is something that is kind of scary to me, but I feel would be hard to get rid of this issue without fully deleting social media as a whole. I watched a documentary called “The Social Dilemma” where they discuss privacy issues such as the ads being a little too on point.

I do think that social media is a good platform for social change. Honestly, most of the information I hear about social movements comes directly from social media. Whether I am scrolling through Instagram or looking at TikToks, they tend to be my main sources for hearing information about what is happening. I think without the outlet of social media, a lot of people who are in my generation would not access or be a part of social movements. The movement that I have seen the most on social media is definitely BLM. I would say social media has had a good effect on the movement because it gives out information on such a large scale. Social media has brought upon a lot of awareness that I do not think would be there as much if people did not view the movements on social media.

Even though social media is definitely a huge invasion of privacy, I do not plan on quitting it anytime soon. I have friends who actually have fully quit it, and I respect that, but I think that the positives outweigh the negatives with social media. When it comes to social media and movements, I am going to continue following them and looking out for new information being posted. I think without having social media people would definitely miss out on learning about important movements happening in our society.