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Is social media becoming a more positive or negative way of connecting with others?

Social media has been gaining a lot of popularity over the years. There was Myspace and then Facebook. Twitter slowly started to gain speed and so did Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr and YouTube. Before we as a society knew it, we were all living a life online on many different social medias. A lot of the younger generation will have never known a world without social media. Personally, I think there are many pros to social media but it also comes along with a few cons. Today in this blog post we are going to explore the positive and negative impacts of social media and connecting with others.

Social media is a great way to stay connected with friends and family who live far away from you but with social media comes risks. Cyberbullying is an issue online especially among younger people. For some reason bullies find it easier to hide behind a screen and a keyboard. Social media is full of negative or inappropriate comments no matter which one you use. With cyberbullying could come self esteem issues. There is a lot of comparison on social media as everyone is posting the best images of their life. We could begin to start comparing ourselves to others and wondering why we don’t look a certain way or why we don’t have certain things. I think it’s important to realize that on social media people can filter out the things in their life that they don’t want others to see, and they are able to emphasize the great things in their life. From the outside looking in, it may seem like they are living a perfect life but that is just what we are allowed to see. Finally, with more people living their lives on social media security and hacking may become concerns. We should be careful of the information we are sharing online because even the best security could be hacked, and our information could be compromised.

Now that I have all the cons for social media out of the way, I want to talk about all the positives it has to offer. I live in a different province from my family and a lot of my friends. I find social media to be a great way to stay in touch and see what my loved ones are up to on a day-to-day basis. I have also been able to make new friends online which is something really special. On social media you can find many different opinions which I think is a good thing so we can all get a more rounded view on the world. We could also find groups and people who share the same interests as us. Social media has been a great way to raise awareness on issues that otherwise wouldn’t be reported on or easily accessible. Finally, I think the convenience of social media and instant messaging has shaped our society today and nothing would be the same without it.

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Engaging, working and learning in a virtual environment

Engaging, working and learning in virtual environments has been more common than ever in the past few years. More people are working and learning from home, and everyone feels a little bit different about it. Personally, I feel like I benefit from learning in a virtual environment because I find it nice to do all my classes from the comfort of my own home. I can be more flexible with my schedule and often work at my own pace. I imagine that since I enjoy learning in a virtual space so much that I would also enjoy working in one as well. BusinessCollective (2014) said that companies working from home can see great benefits to their business when it comes to overhead costs (para. 16). I am hoping that after college I am able to lock down a career in something that I enjoy and potentially something that allows me to work online. If the job is from home, then that is a bonus. I have always been a home body and I’ve always been decent with computers.

 The current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic has made a lot of school turn virtual and a lot of people have started working from home if they can. Some people enjoy working virtually and find that they might even be more productive since there is a better work-life balance. SiteSuperCharger (2021) stated that some employees may be happier working from home because working virtually allows them a little bit more time at home. This creates a better balance between work and home obligations (para. 4). On the other hand, some people do not thrive as much in an online learning or working environment. I personally have heard a lot of parents express concern about how their children are falling behind because they are not able to grasp online learning. There are also students who do not thrive in a classroom and are doing better learning online. Also, there are some people who hold jobs that are unable to be turned virtual. The pandemic has given us a lot to think about when it comes to going about our daily tasks virtually. Perhaps there will come a time where people are more freely able to choose whether they would like to work online or physically go to their obligations.

 To end this post on a positive note about virtual environments I want to write a bit more about my experience with engaging in online environments. Since the pandemic started a lot of businesses have decided to switch their services to online methods. I recently have had 2 virtual appointments and I have to say that they both were a great experience for me. Both appointments were like regular appointments except over a medium that I’m already comfortable with – virtually! It is a big bonus that I did not have to leave my house and waste time and money to physically go to another building to attend an appointment. I really hope in the future that I can continue to take advantage of all the awesome services that are provided virtually to make my life easier!

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