Social Media

1. Define social media.

Social media is defined as internet-based mass communication channels that facilitate interaction perceptions among the individuals who make use of them. Social media derives value from the content that is generated by the users (Bardus et al., 2020). This platform has become a major part of contemporary life, and the content that people consume and share influences major parts of their lives, such as social and personal relationships’ formation and maintenance. Whereas social media has been designed with the intention of offering positive experiences to its users, it is not without some challenges.

1. 2. Discuss its positive and negative sides in relation to social relations.

Regarding the positive experiences associated with social media, it facilitates easy connectivity and accessibility among users. The social media platform gives its users the opportunity to find, access, and connect with people across different regions of the world. Due to its ability to connect people in a more intimate manner than traditional media or phone calls, social media is capable of helping people sustain long-distance relationships. It encompasses various platforms that allow users to share images and engage in video calls to make communication even more engaging. Generally, the use of social media manages to fill the physical gap among the users, making them connect in a closer manner. Additionally, social media is beneficial in that it enhances real-time communication and enables users to express their emotions, therefore creating real-time connections and bonds (Turner & Prince, 2020). However, this platform has some shortcomings.

The negative experiences associated with social media use include breaking down physical communication and the enhancement of infidelity. Once people become used to social media for communication, they tend to go slow on physical and face-to-face communication with people in their vicinity, which reduces their attachment in the long term. It seems that social media concentrates much on people who are far away, therefore denying attention to the people who are in the users' proximity (Sultan, 2021). Additionally, the use of social media has enhanced digital infidelity, where people who are already in serious relationships tend to get into other intimate relationships with the people they connect with on the platforms. This kind of relationship is often facilitated by the provision of private messaging on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, which conceals the communication between them (Șerban et al., 2022). These relationships, especially when formed with an unknown person, tend to break the foundation of the serious relationships and marriages that the users are in. These shortcomings showcase the need for social media to be careful of the way they make use of social media platforms.