Issues in Using Social Media

Social media has always been welcomed in our society today. It has been our way of making connections with other people, no matter how long the distance between us are. In here, we build relationships with other people while exploring and learning new things from others. Social media has also become the output of our voices and opinions and has allowed us to create content for other people. It has changed our way of living. These are the good characteristics that each and every person has proclaimed social media to be. But, like every good thing, it also has its own bad side. Social media has its own problems as well. These problems are mostly caused by fellow users of social media. Below are some of these problems.

Cyber Bullying:

Cyber bullying is the use of electronic gadgets and social networking sites to send, post, or share negative messages to a person. Usually, a person who experiences this would lose his/her reputation.

Some examples of cyber bullying are:

• Threat messages
• Posting images or videos that would humiliate someone
• Sharing false information
• Making content that would embarrass the victim
• Making an impostor account and posting rude comments while pretending to be the person

Cyber bullying is a real thing. It has happened to a lot of people. One example of such a mishap was the harassment Paula Jamie Salvosa experienced because of one wrong move. She is famously known for the name, "Amalayer."

In the video, Paula Salvosa was recorded by a fellow passenger in a train station in the Philippines. She became viral in 2012 after she was caught yelling at a security guard.  Her pronunciation of the word, "I'm a liar," has been made fun of by many people. Memes, parodies, and posts about this video were made online. She received hundreds of hate messages and death threats on social media. Because of this, she found it difficult to leave the house. She didn't attend college for two months.

Her reputation was destroyed. She thought that her future was at a dead-end. This changed, however. She learned to rise up from her mistakes and is now a preacher. She spends most of her time in the ministry.

However, not all accounts of cyber bullying end with a happy ending. This was the case with Rebecca Ann Sedwick, a 12 year old girl who leaped to her death after being bullied in social media. 15 girls sent her hate messages through a social networking site. It was reported that the harassment started because Sedwick captured the attention of the ring-leader's then-boyfriend. She received many nasty messages, such as "You're ugly," "Go kill yourself" and "No one would miss you if you die."

When her mother learned about this, she immediately forced her to change schools and her phone was confiscated. She also made sure to deactivate her account in Facebook. At first, her life in her new school seemed to be better. However, when she decided to create a new social media account in Kik Messenger, her bullies found her and continued bullying her through there. Rebecca Sedwick soon changed her Kik username to "That Dead Girl" before committing suicide.

Flaming and Trolling:

Flaming or trolling happens when a person outright engages in an online argument. Most of the time, personal insults are hauled over each other by one or both parties. Sometimes, they are regarded to as "hate comments" or "mean comments."

Flaming and trolling has become a regular thing in social media sites. In Youtube, you wouldn't be able to go throughout the site without at least seeing one hate comment. It's been so common that celebrities have even made videos of them reading and reacting to the comments.

 

Warning: profanity in the video below

Identity Theft:

Identity theft occurs when someone takes and uses another person's online personal information. Impostor scams are also included in identity theft. These are usually done for the personal gain of the person stealing the information. This is not limited to only financial gain.

Mark Joseph Lontok has become a victim of identity theft in the Philippines. After posting a photo of his Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) ID online, he received notifications from three banks saying that he owed them P800,000. It seems that he accidentally leaked his personal information after posting his ID in Facebook because of sheer happiness.

Chrystal Trammell, from North Carolina, was also a victim of identity theft. This case, however, was different from the previous one. Rebecca Nakutis created a fake Facebook account using Trammell's information. The thief used the account to send fake threatening messages to herself, her friends, and her family. She used this as a way of getting a restraining order against Trammell. Later, the victim realized that Nakutis used the fake accounts in order to set up false harassment charges against her.

Using social media has its perks, however, we should always be careful when surfing the internet.