This is a synthesis essay example on social media or social networking. We will discuss how social media has changed our lives.
Synthesis Essay on Social Media
The world has been experiencing growth and expansion of internet coverage and use since the beginning of the 21st century. Today millions of people in the world can access internet through their mobile devices, and use it for different purposes based on individual needs and preferences. Internet is being used in different business sectors, in government institutions, in education, in politics, and many other industries and sectors.
The extensive use of the internet has thus brought about many changes in the society, including in people’s daily living. There is a controversial debate regarding whether the expansion of internet has resulted to good or bad change. The response to this question may depend on individual experience with the internet among other things. Having intensively interacted and used internet in different fields and operation, I strongly believe that more than any other technology in the world, the spread of internet has brought more good than bad change in our society.
There are many changes associated with spread of internet based on individual engagement. In business, internet has been used to enhance advance virtual communication. Today internet is used to send emails, to do voice call, to do group or individual chats, and inn discussion forums. This has highly enhanced business operations by reducing traveling, and a requirement to be in an office, to conduct business.
Internet has also enhanced virtual offices, permitting companies to outsource workers and without incurring the relocation cost. Intent has also enhanced the growth of e-commerce, where sellers can comfortably market and sell their products to the world, by creating a web-platform to link buyers (Apavaloaie, 954). This has also improved people lifestyle where by, people can comfortably shop online, at the comfort of their homes. Electronic money transfer, which is also highly facilitated by the internet, has as well eased this business, changing the life of busy people, by creating convenience.
In academics, internet is extensively being used to facilitate e-learning or virtual classes, where students in one continent can enroll to a tertiary school in another continent, and study using technology. This has made it possible for more people to advance their academic knowledge at a cheaper price, and at their convenience. Unlike in normal classroom where students must be present in a class to learn, internet has made it possible for the student to access teaching information and materials at their own free time (Dogruer, Eyyam and Menevis, 608).
This makes it possible for most working population to advance their academic knowledge at ease. Internet has also made it easy for students to access academic information. Unlike in old days where students had to get tape-recorded or printed materials to study, students can today source credential academic materials in virtual database. These databases are extensively big, holding large volumes of academic materials. This gives students diverse materials to consider, while doing their homework and assignments, at the comfort of their homes.
Internet expansion has also enhanced the provision of healthcare services to the population, especially among individuals needing close monitoring. Internet has facilitated the implementation of telehealth, a technology that permit medical professionals to monitor their constantly patients at home, while at their offices. This enhanced efficiency and reduction of workload, since a single nurse can manage several patients at the same time using telehealth technology (Shams, 19). Internet is also being used to enhance effective storage and retrieval of patients’ medical information, enhancing medical care provision and reduction of medical errors.
Internet has also been used in political world to share information, propaganda and political agenda. It was extensively used to enhance political campaigns in the United States in 2008, 2012 and 2016 presidential elections, and highly used to influence the election outcome. Internet was also extensively used in Arab spring to inspire change, to manage demonstrations and to share information (Farrell 40). Today, internet is being used to facilitate interactive politics, where members of the public can air their views freely. Internet is also being used to ease the provision of government services to the citizens, through e-government technology. This ease the struggle experienced in the past, where citizens had to travel and queue for government services.
Internet has also changed the social life of people across the world, by making the world like a global village. Today people can interact at real time with each other, through social platforms such as twitter and facebook, from any corner of the world. This has made information sharing easier and enhanced close maintenance of family and friends ties, with people living in different regions, countries or continents. Although internet has enhanced growth of social interaction, it also increased spread of fake news and propaganda, since it does not allow information filtering. In addition, internet can be used to undermine the moral values of a society, especially because it eases the access of dirty information such as pornography, which can be access even by children in some countries.
Generally, internet has brought great change in the society both good and bad. However, the good changes outweigh the negative changes by far. Internet, based on the above analysis, has improved quality of life of many people by creating a high level of efficiency and convenience, in different aspects of life. It can thus be said that internet has played a great role in promoting growth and development in different sectors, and it should be highly embraced in the society to bring growth and advancement in life. However, one need to sieve the changes brought about by this technology, to be able to benefit fully.
Work Cited
Apavaloaie, Elena-Lulia. “The Impact of the Internet on the Business Environment”. Procedia Economics and Finance, vol. 15, 2014, 951-958.
Dogruer, Nazan, Eyyam Ramadan, and Menevis Ipek. “The Use of the Internet for Educational Purposes.” Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 28, 2011, pp. 606-611.
Farrell, Henry. “The Consequences of the Internet for Politics”. Annual Review of Political Science, vol. 15, 2012, pp. 35-52.
Shams, Rehan. “Discussion Regarding to Several Implementation”. Journal to Computer Science of Newports Institute of Communication and Economics, vol.5, 2014, pp. 17-26.
