Social media: Advantages and disadvantages of online platforms

Social media connect us and bring advantages, but they also hide many disadvantages that can harm our health in particular. In this practical tip, we show you the advantages and disadvantages of social media.

Social Media: Advantages of online services

Social networks offer both advantages and disadvantages. Here are the advantages they bring:

• Communication: Thanks to social networks, networking and communicating with other people is easier than ever. So you can get in touch with people from anywhere and even meet people who are far away via video chat.
• Information: Thanks to social networks, you are not only connected with people you know, but also with news services and you get to know things faster than before.
• Inspiration: By sharing information, ideas, art and more, it’s easier to get inspired and get creative yourself.
• Show yourself: Those who have a talent or want to show their creativity can share it with others through social networks to get comments and feed back.

• Collaborative work: Thanks to social media, collaborative working becomes possible with programs like Microsoft Teams, Slack and more, enabling work to be done together from different locations.
• Research and health: Social networks enable the dissemination of public health and safety information during crisis events. In addition, researchers around the world can collaborate and complement each other’s research on the same topic.
• Fighting loneliness: Isolated seniors in particular can often be lonely. Thanks to networking and video chats, they can get in touch with family and friends, and thus fight loneliness.

Social Media: These disadvantages online services bring to your health

While social networks can definitely bring us advantages, the disadvantages are often even more severe and should also be considered. The following disadvantages can occur:

• Disinformation: Where a lot of information can be shared quickly, fake news can also be shared. In no time has false information spread as fast as in the current social media era.
• Addiction: Social networks like Facebook, Instagram and Co. are specially built to trigger an addiction in you. You can hardly do without the networks and waste a lot of your time on the services.
• Poor performance: students who use social networks heavily tend to show poorer grades.
• On the net forever: Photos and other posts once shared often cannot be completely deleted. This can pose a problem for the future in cases of bullying and accidentally posted data.
• Ideal picture: On Instagram and co, celebrities and co only show their most beautiful side. This leads to feelings of inferiority for many people, as it seems to them that the world is perfect for others but not for themselves. Since the social media era, the number of depression in young age has increased significantly.
• Cyberbullying: Depending on the network and circumstances, cyberbullying occasionally occurs. This makes people feel even more isolated than they were before and they tend to get depressed.
• Privacy: From lack of data protection or data leaks, information about you can get into the hands of third parties and thus be used against you.
• Publication of sexual content: If you have ever shared a nude picture of yourself with your partner, it can quickly end up on the internet due to the slight infringement in an act of revenge and can be difficult to disappear from there.
• Transparent life: People who grow up with social media tend to share more about themselves online. So you may unknowingly share information that could lead to danger.
• Burglary risk: If an app has access to your location, others may be able to access your location. If you are not at home, burglars can use the information to break into your home when you are away.
• Back pain: People who are busy on social media often show an unhealthy posture on the computer or smartphone. This can lead to back pain and other health problems.