Essay on Mass Media and Social Media Effects

Everyone across the globe today is exposed to social media. The users of the social media are subjected to both negative and positive effects of its use. The youth are the most people experiencing the effects of social media use. The youth have been born in a social media-dominated world where they experience the use of social media through various sources (Bandura, Albert, 269). The availability and quick accessibility of information are owed to the social media. The vast spread of various personal views and innovations is owed to the use of social media. There are other advantages of using the social media, but the major concerns have been paid to the severe negative effects of the social media on its users especially. In this essay, the effects of the mass media and the censorship in the social media in Egypt would be discussed strategically.

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The major advantage of using the social media includes the creation of a society that is always informed with the current information around the world. For instance, the distribution of the magazines and newspapers, which was the first form of the social media, was imperative in educating the involved societies of the trending and current information (Bandura, Albert, 274). When a society is informed, their participation in various areas of the economy is guaranteed. After a long time with the newspapers as the major form of mass media informing most societies, an improvement in social media resulted in the form of the radio and television. The introduction of the sounds and sights in the social media resulted into a totally new mode. The attractiveness and intensity of the information provided improved drastically over short time. The following generations of mediums used in the social media improved after that with the introduction of other social media sites.

The most adverse effects of the social media originated from the audio-visual mediums like the television and other forms of modern social media sites. Some of the adverse effects were the excessive idleness of the television viewers for instance. The idleness has resulted into certain medical disadvantages like obesity in most children who concentrate a lot on social media and have no time to play (Bandura, Albert, 277). The other problem with the mass media could have resulted from the use of models in advertisements passed across most of the social media mediums. The use of the models impacts girls and female viewers that the lifestyle of the models is the ideal lifestyle that every one of them should live to be successful. Resultantly, most girls would adjust their lives to match that of the models and end up with various life complications like malnutrition among other effects (Bandura, Albert, 295). The social media and the internet are the most dangerous mass communication mediums. The web has allowed the creation of various relationships and internet bullying that has adversely affected the society.

It was the influence of the social media that led to the censorship of the mass media by the Egyptian government. Several years after the revolution of Egypt, several problems were still being experienced because of the social media and the freedom of expression (Attia, Ashraf M., et al., 373). The attempts of the Egyptian government to control the use of mass media have been considered as infringement by most Egyptian citizens who did not like the fact and considered the government authoritative after they attained a revolution. After the revolution, the Egyptian government controlled the expression by the people and the narrations of the media as well.

Under the rule of President Mubarak, the media use is entirely under the supervision of the government. The private owners of the various mediums of communication, who are the rich people within the nation, are all in compliance with the Egyptian government's control over the use of the social media as demanded by the ruling authorities (Attia, Ashraf M., et al., 370). During the revolution referred to as the January 25, the social media, for instance, played a fundamental role in creating awareness among most Egyptians overall government operations and the intentions to revolutionize Egypt. Because the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has always been in support of the ruling government, the various struggles to allow free use of the social media has always failed.

Through the social media, the disadvantaged persons would have a platform to express their different views. The authoritative regimes within Egypt have opted to control the social media as they fear it would be used to incite the Egyptians and, as a result, provoke various forms of war; civil or international (Attia, Ashraf M., et al., 369). The majority of the people within Egypt are willing and ready to see through the reforms in mass media and the social media except for the political situation of the nation that has been the major barrier (Attia, Ashraf M., et al., 372). The politicians are not ready for any form of change that would allow the free use of the mass media for fear it might be used against them. The Egyptians therefore, have remained hopeful that the government would allow the free use of the social media to its people. Nevertheless, the earlier signs that emanate from the Egyptian government are not encouraging.

The censorship of the social and mass media as it happens in Egypt is an exceptional case about the various government systems within other nations. The United States, for instance, allows the free use of the social media for all its citizens. Unlike in Egypt, the use of the social media in America is with the control such that the information delivered to the people or by the people is purely under the supervision of the social media users (Lotan, Gilad, et al., 31). The difference in freedom in the use of the social media as seen by the two nations; Egypt and the United States could be attributed to the different government systems within the two countries. The Egyptian political system is such that the government is in control of entirely every activity of the citizens especially those that have direct influences to the operations of the government (Lotan, Gilad, et al., 31). The American government, on the other hand, allows freedom for its people in all areas of the economy.

In conclusion, mass media has various negative and positive effects to its users especially the youth who are the frequent users of the social media sites for instance. Because of the dangerous consequences of the mass media, various governments are concerned about the use of the social media by its people. The Egyptian government, for instance, takes complete control over the utilization of the social media by the people (Lotan, Gilad, et al., 31). The struggle by the people to be free to express them has always fallen on deaf ears as the government is adamant to control the use of the mass media. The government of America on the other hand, allows its people to use the social media without any regulations freely.

Works Cited

Bandura, Albert. "Social cognitive theory of mass communication." Media psychology 3.3 (2011): 265-299.

Attia, Ashraf M., et al. "Commentary: The impact of social networking tools on political change in Egypts Revolution 2.0." Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 10.4 (2011): 369-374.

Lotan, Gilad, et al. "The Arab Spring| the revolutions were tweeted: Information flows during the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions." International journal of communication 5 (2011): 31.