MEDIA AND ITS CONS

Media

It is common to say that in today’s setting, we live in a digital world where everything we do involves media and technology. With the rapid technological advancement that we are experiencing today, it is reasonable to say that our lives have, at some point, improved. But with this improvement comes threats to our lives as well. Here are some of the disadvantages of media that we must be aware of for us to be able to avoid them.

Media Addiction

In today’s era, it is undeniable to say that media affects our lives. If we look into our surroundings, there is almost no place where media is not present. With this, media addiction became rampant over the years. According to Center on Media and Child Health, research has shown that problematic, excessive, and compulsive use of the internet and video games may lead to academic struggles, poor family relationships, impaired social functioning, and emotional and psychiatric problems. Also, according to the same source, studies have shown that children who overly game or use the internet exhibit similar behaviors to those suffering from other addictions such as substance dependence, and their addictions can lead to other negative health consequences such as depression, ADHD, daytime sleepiness, alcohol uses, and injury. Because of media addiction, most teens find a hard time socializing with their peers. They become so sucked up with media that it becomes easier to wave hello in Messenger and to slide through DMs in Twitter than to greet someone with a smile.

Cybercrime

Cybercrime, according to Britannica.com, is the use of a computer as an instrument to further illegal ends such as committing fraud, trafficking in child pornography and intellectual property, stealing identities, or violating privacy. With the global use of media and technology, it is with no doubt that cybercrime is rampant nowadays. Not just that it is rampant, it also threatens the lives of people since most cybercrimes involve money. A statement in the article of Security Boulevard said, “the first cybercrime report by Bromium and McGuire estimates that cybercrime created more than $1.5 trillion in profits in the year 2018 alone. However, it’s critical to note that McGuire openly admits that those estimates may not paint a complete picture — that the estimates are conservative, and the numbers may actually skew higher.” Another statement said that social media contributes to the sale of stolen personal data in an underground economy that’s now worth about $630 million per year. This just proves that cybercrime is not just a threat to our personal identity but to our economy as well since a lot of our money go to criminals involved in these acts instead of it being spent on our state’s or country’s improvement.

Cyberbullying

Going deeper with cybercrime, another problem which is very popular in social media is Cyberbullying. According to Common Sense Media, Cyberbullying is the use of digital-communication tools (such as the Internet and cell phones) to make another person feel angry, sad, or scared, usually again and again. Most cases of cyberbullying actually happen on Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and the like. Because of easy access, people can perform this crime without hesitation since most accounts can easily be faked or can be made without proper identification like dummy accounts. Because of this, a lot of people, most especially kids, experience cyberbullying, and being a victim actually damages the mental and emotional health of the person because it affects a person’s self esteem. In most cases, people who are cyberbullied refrain from going outside or from attending their classes and in worst cases, they commit suicide. Cyberbullying is punishable by law, but even if it is, most people still resort to this act since, again, accounts like dummy accounts hide the true identity of people. Cyberbullying greatly affects the mental and emotional health of people, especially that of children which are very vulnerable to this kind of crime.