Nowadays, most of us get our news, and are constantly share things via social media. Although most people refuse to acknowledge social media as a main source of news, it seems like it is. This might be positive because it means people find out about events faster, or negative because most of the news articles are written on websites that do not thoroughly conduct research before publishing articles
Facebook and Twitter; the main sources of news.
Although most people would come to the conclusion that it is just teens who would get their new from social media, a survey showed people of varying races, ages and genders who admitted to getting their new from Facebook and Twitter.
In the article, "Facebook and Twitter Really Are Where People Get Their News", it stated that in 2013, 52% received their news from Twitter and 47% from Facebook. Which significantly increased from 2013 to 2015, with 63% getting their news from Facebook and the same percentage for Twitter. However most people stated that "neither of them 'are an important way I get news'". Which leads to an important question, why do we rely on social media for news if it is not an important source?
Smartphone Addiction.
We spend a lot of time on social media, which is why we find out about events firstly from there. It seems like almost everyone nowadays carries a smartphone and is seldom seen without it, but does that mean we are addicted to them? In the article, "Is Smartphone Addiction Real?” it stated that a research professor, Dr. Mark Griffiths said that, “Just because something is very important in your life, and you carry it everywhere, and when you forget it, you feel like your left arm’s missing, that doesn’t mean that you’re addicted,” however I disagree with him. In my opinion, if a possession or habit which is not vital to your survival or health feels like something you cannot live without, then it should be considered an addiction. People don’t seem to realize how harmful they are to our health. Another thing we don’t seem to realize is how most of the news we get from these articles stem from rumors or are made up.Articles with False Information.
With the accessibility of technology nowadays, everyone and anyone can easily put up a website or blog and write anything they choose. And most people do not check the references to articles. Due to this, a lot of false information is spread. In an article on NBCnews.com, it stated one of the most harmful false information posted and shared on the web to about the missing Malaysian airplane. This occurred when a Twitter user tweeted that "he had 'some inside news from a pilot uncle that #MH370 has emergency landed somewhere in China! Hope everyone is safe.'" This news spread quite fast and the families of the missing passengers were releived, until the Airlines and the Chinese government proved it to be false. Although receiving most of our informaton via social media and constantly sharing it may be a good way to spread awarenes quickly there may be more downsides to it than is realized.
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