Can social media be trusted?

[fox777]

Sure, why not? I really like Instagram It's a personal platform where you can sell/buy products, have fun, and socialize. Instagram has popular blogs on all kinds of topics: travel, lifestyle, business, promotion, beauty, fashion, and much, much more. Accounts with more followers tend to be more popular than those with fewer followers. It is now very easy to get a large number of followers. Thanks to the increased popularity of this social networking site, you can make a good living if you put at least minimal effort into it.

[Ravendreamsx]

During the pandemic I've met people online through Facebook and even this forum and met them at concerts etc. I use it to keep in touch with friends I've met irl. The difference is that I use social media to connect with other students and people my own age with similar interests. It's a good tool to use as a springboard for making friends and organising events.

However, like others have said its also about age and stage. Younger people are groomed because they aren't educated on Internet safety. Also, a lot of predators use it for the wrong reasons which ruins social media for everyone.

[Shounen-Recycled]

No. I feel very lucky to be a member of the last Generation to grow up without Social Media. I’m pretty sure all the social platforms are purposely designed to reduce intelligence and shorten attentio...............................

[thehugeanifan]

I think social media like all things depending on the person can be used for bad. If people have worries they should just stay away from the Internet. Particularly for parents who worry over what their kids are seeing.

And I think it is ridiculous for people to expect censoring online. With the only exception if people are violent or extremist. The problem with that is you risk destroying the mood for a place online where people feel the need to share.


Unlike some of you, I don't think social media destroyed communication. For people who go "when was the last time people sat down and really talked" . That has never been the case. Most people don't talk about things of substance. I think that sentiment comes from people believing the past was much better than the present.


If anything. Social media and the online world has amplified what was already there. People are selfish. It us up to us individually to ignore those people and instead build up people who are not self-absorbed, selfish. But I find it telling that is often those people whose voices people ignore.

Lastly, I think social media companies should pay us for our data. Like melanch0lic said, I have noticed with Instagram I was interested in an anime t-shirt online and did not buy on Amazon.com because did not think paying for shipping was worth it and sometime later when I checked in on Instagram I saw an announcement for a sale. Checked up online and from another website, same seller, the shirt was at the price I wanted. Same price for the t-shirt I would have gotten from Amazon if I did not need to pay for shipping. So I payed for the t-shirt, tax, but no shipping costs really. The thing it is quite obvious Instagram (owned by Facebook) tracks you. They are monitoring you. Spying on you online. They are invading your privacy. If they are going to do that then they should pay you for your data, at least a small portion. They got a sale from you, after all. I have only come to this view until recently, but this whole situation shows how significant my privacy, my data can be to companies and social media sites.

For context, I went ahead with the purchase since I was aware of what they were doing. I know they were trying to manipulate me to buy, but I let myself be manipulated since I was already going to buy that t-shirt. I had already been thinking of it. This was merely beneficial to me and I took advantage of the t-shirt sale.

[LilMissLarBear]

I hate to be the person who is "on the fence" but I do genuinely think there are good and bad sides to social media. Small businesses and content creators rely on social media a lot for whatever they do and of course during the pandemic social media platforms were used a great deal, not as if to say that doesnt already happen- but I say more use was taken out of it than usual. So in a sense social media was trusted a lot.

However in more ways than one social media is not trustful especially as a news source. Sadly I see a lot of news articles being shared around on my Facebook (I now dont use it anymore for this reason) and a lot of it is misleading. A lot of fake news articles get circulated around especially through periods of General Elections or any other political event. Sure really young kids *may* not be interested in it but say teenagers that either a year or two away from being able to vote or just reached the age to vote, these people may not have yet developed media literacy skills to understand that a lot of these articles can be misleading so in that sense young adults are unable to draw their own conclusions fairly.

A more obvious point is of course the concern of young children being groomed online or catfished, which I think is already mentioned so I wont explain it again

[Shounen-Recycled]

If you guys haven’t read Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 I highly recommend it. This guy predicted social media way back in 1953 and could see the inevitable impact it would have on people’s daily lives. Also an amazing story so get on it people!

[CrowsZeroBrad]

Myspace>Facebook imo

Agreed. There's a couple of "remakes" of old Myspace out there, but they're pretty dead, which is a massive shame. I hate all of the big social media platforms tbh (FB, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok). If you're interested, the Myspace clones are called SpaceHey and FriendProject. I have an account on both of them.

[Rich-Allen1976]

During the 80s, "When I were a lad", the nearest thing to social media was writing in to kids' magazines, because the Internet as we know literally hadn't been invented yet.

[Chlobo]

Sadly I know a lot of people with the it’s-on-social-media-so-it-must-be-true.

[Rich-Allen1976]

Sadly I know a lot of people with the it’s-on-social-media-so-it-must-be-true.

Contrary to popular belief, not everything you read online is Gospel truth.

For example, I once read somewhere that Boris Johnson actually has scruples! You what?

[Beex]

Sadly I know a lot of people with the it’s-on-social-media-so-it-must-be-true.

A wild Chlobo has appeared!???

[Rich-Allen1976]

I have an account on Instagram, and it's a good job it was free as I've used it about twice if that in the last 12 years.

[Rich-Allen1976]

No. I feel very lucky to be a member of the last Generation to grow up without Social Media. I’m pretty sure all the social platforms are purposely designed to reduce intelligence and shorten attentio...............................

Some of today's kids have the attention span of a Gnat to begin with, that's why they make kids films an hour and half plus ads and trailers.

[Shounen-Recycled]

No. I feel very lucky to be a member of the last Generation to grow up without Social Media. I’m pretty sure all the social platforms are purposely designed to reduce intelligence and shorten attentio...............................

Some of today's kids have the attention span of a Gnat to begin with, that's why they make kids films an hour and half plus ads and trailers.

Advertising is the worst. Unless it’s for Games and Anime of course

[TheRedWarrior]

Advertising is getting everywhere, pop up ads, ads on Youtube just ads, ads, ads. Buy this buy that.
Even though Youtube in the beginning promised to never let it happen but whatever.