How Social Media Has Shaped Our Future Existence

Social media is a relatively recent innovation that has completely altered the world. Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram among many others have become a part of almost every individual on the planet.

The benefits of social media have been obvious in terms of allowing us to connect with a much wider group of individuals than in the past. It is necessary to examine how social media will affect our existence now and in the future.

A short list of the future impacts of social media is included below.

Social Media Effects in the Future

1. Revolutionary Communication

Our communication has completely changed due to the invention of social media. Today, social media offers us numerous avenues of communication that do not require any personal interaction. The innovation in communication methods continues to expand especially on social media.

You can use a DM (Direct Message), a Poke, a Like, or comment on social media in order to pass a message to another individual. Recent innovations such as Instagram live videos allow individuals to communicate what they are doing at a particular moment to a wide audience.

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In the future, social media is only going to become more sophisticated in how it allows us to communicate. It will not be surprising if someone comes up with a holographic way of sending messages through social media.

2. Personal Interaction

In the past, people used to interact on a much more personal scale. You could only interact if you spoke to a person face to face, wrote a letter, or placed a direct phone call to that individual. However, we are now more isolated than ever thanks to social media.

Despite having thousands and even millions of friends on social media sites, most individuals are lonelier than they have ever been. This is unlikely to change in the future as people become more reliant on these sites.

Social media offers an illusion of having real connections masking the fact that we are now unable to form personal connections. People especially millennials; spend so much time on their social media sites that they cannot hold a face-to-face conversation effectively.

3. Online Relationships

Social media sites are now affecting how we form our personal relationships. An individual’s social media presence can actually affect how potential partners view them. In addition, the creation of some social media sites such as Tinder and Grindr for the sole purpose of helping people find mates or sexual partners has completely changed the dating game.

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Rather than meeting people in real life, most singles now opt to use social media platforms to look for partners. This has proven to be extremely dangerous and unpredictable as people use fake social media profiles to attract searching singles.

In the future, social media is likely to be the only way in which people meet or attract potential partners as they are used to create bigger networks.

4. The End of Office Jobs

Social media has become a source of income for users and owners. Its use in business means that physical businesses use these platforms to advertise their products as well as provide customers with avenues of purchasing these products.

The typical office jobs that were the staple of the past centuries are now replaceable simply because of social media. You can access information on a product, purchase the product, and never have to meet the sales person involved. Further, you can start your own business on social media that is completely online.

Many people now receive payment simply for having a large number of connections online. Social media and the internet may eliminate the concept of the traditional office jobs. Innovations such as social media for business such as LinkedIn already influence how business networks are made so that networks can expand without ever meeting these individuals.

5. Anonymity

The internet and social media have provided an avenue for complete anonymity that can be used for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, the anonymity of social media means that people with nefarious agendas have the opportunity to use social media to manipulate other individuals.

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The anonymity increases the chances of negative social interactions as people do not care whether what they say on social media offends other people. Aside from enhancing bullying and negativity, the anonymity of social media is in use on a larger scale.

For example, recent debates on the United States presidential elections found that millions of fake profiles or ‘bots’ on social media sites were used to influence the public opinion by focusing on a particular rhetoric. The anonymity of the social media sites means that in future, we should expect these sites to be used in the spread of propaganda, hate speech, and fake news.

Conclusion

The benefits of social media in the future are obvious. First, social media will continue to revolutionize communication through the innovations used on these sites. It will also change how businesses operate and may lead to a new format of working.

However, some of the cons include increased isolation, lack of personal interaction and the use of anonymity to further negative agendas.