Social Media, Boon or Bane?

Social media is here to stay.  It is the fastest way of communicating with friends and relatives. Millions of people are on Facebook and they share news, photos, videos and anything of interest.  Many also use it to promote their businesses.

There is a lot of interaction among the users and posts of interest are often followed avidly.

However it can also be abused. Comments that are uncalled for, insults traded and even vicious personal attacks are often seen online.

Cyber bullies, predators and stalkers also abound.

There have been cases of young people being bullied to such extremes that they were driven to suicide as the only way out of their misery.

Young unsuspecting children are stalked and become victims of predators who pretend to be friends of their own age. This is why parents have been advised to monitor their children’s online activities.

Lately there have been many reports of online scams where women have been cheated of their savings by their Facebook friends.

So there is both good and bad in using social media such as Facebook.

One should tread warily if someone unknown wants to be your friend. The level of privacy should be set to one that you are comfortable with. In the end it should be common sense that must prevail but then again, one can be totally seduced by the gift of the gab.

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