With the development of the technology and internet, an increasing number of people who are likely to have been changed their interaction by social media. In the past, at the first, especially in ancient China, when there was a war happening, the soldiers would burn some vegetation (such as Euphrates poplar, liquorice, camel grass and so on), which might produce smoke as a signal to remind people. And then soldiers could have enough time to prepare. Secondly, after the paper-making technology was invented by Can, L.(105 B.C.
), more and more people started to write letters to communicate with each other. And these letters would be delivered by horses and pigeons. Thirdly, thanks to Samuel F. B.Morse, at the beginning of the 19 century, the harnessing of electricity led to the invention of electrical telegraphy. However, in the present, the old ways to help people interact were gradually abandoned because of the high-technology and the popularity of the social media, more and more people tend to use of email, mobile phone as well as some amazing social network sites (such as Tencent QQ(1999), Facebook(2004), Youtube(2005), Twitter(2006), WeChat(2011), Snapchat(2011), Weibo(2014), and stuffs like that ) Every coin has two side, which means the changes that people interact have benefits and drawbacks to some extents.
There are various positive effects of these changes which people are influenced by social media. At the first, these changes bring about efficiency and convenience. There are two aspects which can explain why. The first one is about less time consuming. People do not need to wait for the letter in reply for a long time especially in the extreme weather, like the storm. Nowadays people can send and receive messages instantly through the internet. It indeed helps people save a lot of time to do other important things. The second one is money-saving.
Human beings do not have to spend money on the envelope, the stamp, the postage and other relevant expenditures. Additionally, diversification is also an indispensable part of the advantages. In the past, the way people communicate was monotonous, which means they had limited ways to know each other, like face-to-face chatting or writing letters. On the contrary, in the recent days, there are numerous ways people can choose.
For example, in the WeChat, people can choose messaging, voice call, video call to contact their parents, friends. They can upload some pictures which may be about the delicious food, charming scenery, even working out in the gym… In these ways, others can know clearly and thoroughly what we do in the daily life, our personalities and interests. The last one involves the opportunity which plays a pivotal role in these benefits.
The first opportunity is the online business. Due to the fierce competition and limited employment opportunity in the real life, the blooming of the online business provides hundreds and thousands of vacant jobs. There is a real case about online business like some online shopping websites such as Taobao which is the largest one in China. Taobao allows people to register their own stores to have transactions with each other. Owing to that, there is a new job which is called courier. This job does not attach the importance on the academic background of the workers. The second one is about making different friends who come from different countries.
Communicating with those friends by using social media can broaden our horizons and enrich our experience. The last one is very meaningful since it is a chance to live. Some impoverished and poor people who are suffering horrible diseases cannot afford the expensive operation fee. They can write their story to upload any websites which can help them to raise fund and encourage them to overcome the diseases. There are four negative effects of how the social media led to a change in how people interact. Firstly, ‘In the global YouGov survey of more than 4,700 teenagers from across the world, a fifth of those who had experienced cyberbullying said it had made them consider suicide, and more than half said being taunted online was worse than being bullied in person’. (The Guardian) Cyberbullying results in some negative consequences on the daily life of teenagers such as psychological and physical problems (depressive disorder, infantile autism, and some emotional problems), poor academic performance and social isolation. Secondly, ‘internet addiction is described as an impulse control disorder, which does not involve the use of an intoxicating drug and is very similar to pathological gambling’.
(IIFAR) It may lead to some disadvantages which include the loss of some important relationship, bad sleeping habits, poor eyesight, sedentary lifestyles and so on. The third one is internet fraud. When we register some websites, we need to fill in some personal information like the phone number, the address of the home or company and so on. But the internet is not always safe and private, which means there are a lot of lawbreakers who may steal our this important information to defraud our parents and friends or to give us a telephone harassment.
The last one is losing some vital skills, like social skills and writing skills. If we use social media for a long-term, People may be afraid of having a face-to-face communication since they are accustomed to communicating by social media. They cannot build the strong relationship with each other and they do not know how to cultivate and improve. At the same time, people gradually lose some writing skills. They may forget some grammar or full spelling of words because they are used to typing by keyboard.
