Social Media

INTRO

1. Definitions:
Social Media: websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to
participate in social networking

● Social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+).

● Microblogging (Twitter, Tumblr).
● Photo sharing (Instagram, Sna pchat, Pinterest).
● Video sharing (YouTube, Facebook Live, Periscope, Vimeo, TikTok).

● NOT zoom, google meet (must influence people widely)

2. Synonyms:

Social network, mass media, multimedia, social networking site, social site

3. Disambiguations

Media VS New Media VS Social Media

Media: Communication tools that influence people widely (newspaper, magazines, AND the
internet

VS

New Media: means of mass communication using digital technologies such as the Internet.
(heavily reliant on Internet for communication)
(e.g. virtual worlds, computer animations and games)

VS

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Social Media: websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to
participate in social networking

4. Key discussions:

1. Social media and how it affects mental health

2. Social media a free place for views to be expressed
3. Social media is a place where people have to ensure they are protected
4. Social media is growing into an additional platform for raising awareness on certain issues
5. Social media allows cyber bullying, and people can hide behind an internet facade
6. Social media is a common form of education
7. Social media is a place for building and maintaining relationships.
8. The government is not doing enough to tackle the problem of cyberbullying on social
media.
9. How social media has affected the way people communicate with one another.

5. Quotes and Hooks

Prince Harry says that social media is “stoking a crisis of hate”, and as social media provides a safe
haven for free expression, social media becomes a tool to spread hate and division.

“Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t want plastered on a billboard with your face on it.”
-Erin Bury, CEO of a computer software company (used for many people do not think of the
consequences of their actions on social media, as they are anonymous)

“Social media is addictive precisely because it gives us something which the real world lacks: it
gives us immediacy, direction, and a value as an individual.” -David Amerland, British author (used
for social media can help build relationships)

“If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking.” - Benjamin Franklin, American Polymath
(used for online mob mentality)

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Dr Catherine Frogley, clinical psychologist at The LightHouse Arabia Dubai. “Secondly, spending
increasing time online and fewer real-life interactions can lead to a sense of disconnection from
others, loneliness and depression.”

“The power of social media is it forces necessary change”, says Erik Qualman, American author of
the book Socialnomics.

“We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it.” – Erik
Qualman

Social media is here. It’s not going away. It’s not a passing fad. (Lori Ruff, a LinkedIn authority and
Forbes Top 25 Social Media Power Influencer)

Online is old news. Online in social media is today's news....Social media is not a subset of the
internet. Social media is the internet. (Sean Case, author at Bellingcat)

It takes discipline not to let social media steal your time. (Alexis Ohanion, co-founder and
executive chairman of the social news website Reddit)

Social media is training us to compare our lives, instead of appreciating everything we are. No
wonder why everyone is depressed. (Bill Murray, an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and
writer.)

The world when I was 13 wasn't truly driven by tabloid mlife. I doagazines and social media and
reality shows. I was able to have a little more of a private n't want to wake up and not truly be
enjoying my life and these amazing things around me. (LeAnn Rimes, American singer, songwriter,
actress, and author.)

“Great communication begins with connection.”(Oprah Winfrey, called “arguably the world’s most
powerful women” by CNN and Time.com)

“You don’t need a corporation or a marketing company to brand you now: you can do it yourself.
You can establish who you are with a social media following.” --- Ray Allen, former American
professional basketball player.

“The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.”Peter Drucker(an
american-austrian consultant)

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MAIN IDEAS AND ARGUMENTS

Benefits:
1) Social media is growing into an additional platform for raising
awareness on certain issues

Since the onset of environmental problems like Global Warming, climate change,
deforestation and animal agriculture rapidly destroying the Earth, it has sparked much awareness
and concern among the generation of millenials. Many campaigns, protests and lifestyle shifts have
been carried out and one platform in which such a worldwide shift in mindset can be
communicated is social media.

Social media not only allows a free space for people to express their viewpoints on these
environmental problems, it also allows social connections to be forged quicker, allowing a wider
community of people willing to advocate for more work to be done for a healthier environment to
come together to make a more influential stand.

Social media influencers play a critical role in spreading awareness of these topics. Many
social media users are riding on the vegan trend making this one of the largest social movements
driven by social media. Everyone from celebrities to athletes to entire companies including Google
and countries as big as China are supporting the movement to eat more plant-based foods. One
example of this is Leonardo DiCaprio, who is actively involved in climate change activism uses his
Instagram to post on recent environmental issues or events, reaching a huge audience.

According to a report by research firm GlobalData, there’s been a 600% increase in people
identifying as vegans in the U.S in the last three years. The #vegan has had more than 61 million
posts listed on Instagram, exhibiting the incredible amount of support the shift to veganism has
garnered through social media.

Another Example on raising awareness:

“The power of social media is it forces necessary change”, says Erik Qualman, American author of
the book Socialnomics. Social media is regarded as a safe haven for people to express their
personal views, thoughts or opinions on certain subjects. Users can stay anonymous through the
use of usernames on social media, and do not have to worry about censorship as they share their
unique ideas with the world. This has allowed many groups to utilise social media for good,
creating political engagement, social activism, and “giving voice to underrepresented groups”.

One example of this is the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Following the shooting death of
unarmed black teenager Treyvon Martin, The #Blacklivesmatter has become prevalent in today’s

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society. Through the power of social media, this movement has quickly gained international
support, as people from all over the world unite in this cause to fight for what is right.

Profile, L., Oberst, L., & Profile, V. (2018, January 18). Why the Global Rise in Vegan and Plant-Based
Eating Isn't A Fad (600% Increase in U.S. Vegans + Other Astounding Stats). Retrieved August 11,
2020, from https://foodrevolution.org/blog/vegan-statistics-global/

2) Social media is an important means of business as companies move

online (Business Marketing)

The importance of social media in business is growing at warp speed. With a rapidly
enlarging community using social media from all walks of life, the social media industry is
bound to become bigger in the coming years. It is booming like never before. Companies
who do not take advantage of this are on the losing end of this competitive market where
product exposure is key. Using social media advertisements allows you to reach out to
targeted prospects, increase your conversions and ultimately get a higher return on
investment. Social Media companies achieve this from data collected from the user’s
searches everyday, using computer algorithms to deduce certain needs of the user.
Advertisements of companies catering to those needs would appear, appealing to the user
to spend on those products. Marketing experts also narrow down their targeted audience
to certain platforms (Facebook for the older generation, Instagram for millennials).
Another way in which startups/small companies gain recognition is through sponsoring
creators on Youtube, where their products will be featured.

When Facebook Ads was launched, it managed to reach 9.16B in ad revenue in the first
quarter in 2017, highlighting how social media marketing is holding paramount
importance in today’s society and that companies, whether startups or multi-billion dollar
giants, are realising the role social media can play in their success. Additionally, 73% of
online marketers agree that their efforts in implementing a social media marketing
strategy for their business has been effective, noticeably raising their earnings.

3) Social media can help improve communication between people

Social media has changed the way we communicate with people. With social media, people can
wirelessly communicate with each other through the form of texts messages. There are many
social media apps that can perform this task, like Whastapp, Telegram and many more. These help
ease our lives as people can just simply type their message, and send their messages anywhere

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across the world, at the comfort of their own homes, or anywhere they choose to be. People are
able to receive the messages within a minute, and instantaneously reply to them, resulting in quick
and efficient communication between people. This is especially true in the scenario where people
from different countries, or are very far away from one another may want to communicate. They
can do so through these social media applications within the click of a button, and this feature
entices many people to use it. According to Businessofapps.com, Whatsapp has 1.5 billion users in
180 countries, making it the most-popular messaging app in the world, and has 1 billion active
users. That is a very huge number, which clearly states how many people accept it as a form of
communication, and proves its efficiency. In addition, social networking tools like electronic mail,
Facebook and others are crucial tools in the commercial and corporate sectors. Simple
communication tools that exist between major corporations such as SMSs, Instant Messaging,
WhatsApp and electronic mail are a quintessential part of communications attributable to the
economic success of corporations. Corporations use these forms of social media to communicate
with one another. Without it, there will be miscommunication which leads to many mistakes, and
ultimately the fall of the company.

4) Social media is changing the way humans relate to each other

● ‘The most important thing in communication is to hear what is not being said.’ This is a
quote by Peter Druckers, an American-Austrian consultant. Social media consists of many
things, but in this case, it is defined as online texting and sharing platforms like Whatsapp
and Instagram. When people communicate using social media platforms, they are not
actually speaking, people still find it hard to ‘hear what is not being said. This refers to
understanding what the speaker is saying, together with his feelings and tone. If the person
understands the underlying meaning and feelings in the speech, there will effective
communication as the correct information has been shared. However, with social media,
normal text messages make it harder to understand what the person is feeling as that
person’s tone cannot be transmitted though the social media platforms, as compared to
when communicating in real life, where one can observe that person’s body language, facial
expressions and emotions, which allows pme to relate and understand that person better.
Thus, this changes the way humans relate to each other on the social media platforms as
they have to find other ways like sending emoticons, sharing pictures and video calling.
○ 92% of the online population uses emojis daily, and over 10 billion emojis are sent
each day. Emojis are processed by the brain as non-verbal information, which
means we interpret them as emotional communications. This gives the emoji the
power to enhance the message of whatever we’re trying to convey. MIT Scientists
discovered that people can process images in as little as 13 milliseconds, making
emojis a useful tool for communicating emotional information at just a glance.In
addition, 70% of people believe the images express their feelings better than
words. A study found that using an emoji in casual conversation introduces feelings
of enjoyment, happiness, and solidifies an overall positive impression of the

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 interaction. Another study analyzed 31 million tweets and half a million Facebook
posts to find that emojis were a common factor in predicting social status and
influence (source).
○ 80% of employees use video calling for 1:1 meetings. 78% of employees say they
use web conferencing tools for team meetings. 75% of CEOS say that video
conference calls will entirely replace audio-only conference calls. 67% of
employees say they’re more likely to contribute to a meeting over video
conferencing.

This shows how social media can also be used to communicate with students easily so that
information can be passed in a short period of time, and thus ensuring more productivity in
schools. Even though social media brings about many disadvantages, when used in an
appropriate manner, it can bring you many benefits that can help you in your daily life.

Disadvantages:

5) Social media causes people to constantly form unrealistic ideals

about their lifestyles

Social media has caused a relentless need to make ourselves look better in
comparison to our neighbors and contemporaries. When we carefully curate our lives via
social media channels, emphasizing the good while downplaying the bad, we not only
curate an unhealthy and unreal idea of life (e.g. unrealistic body expectations from models
with strict diets, exercise regimens, and copious amounts of make-up and photoshop), but
also reinforce expectations of what we should think our lives should be when we ingest
others’ curated social media channels.

We set ourselves up for disappointment, making us unable to cope with inevitable

setbacks. We will go chasing experiences that surpass the last in some never ending cycle,
like a gambler spending more and more money chasing their losses in an effort to simply
break even. Often, people get peer-pressured into following certain ideas or opinions,
while they might not actually agree with it, they start supporting these ideas just to fit in to
the crowd. This ingenuity results in the integrity of such ideas to be lost.

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 A report by NHS Digital found that Social Media is responsible for a significant hike
in the number of women between the ages of 16 to 24 suffering with mental health
problems, with more than a quarter (26 per cent) affected. Young women in this age
bracket were three times more likely to develop mental health problems than their male
counterparts.

The unhealthy and unreal idea of life teens are exposed to is detrimental to their
mental health. Plastic surgeons around the world are reporting the rise of “Snapchat
dysmorphia”, a term coined by researchers in Boston following the rise in people getting
surgery to mimic the effect of filters.

(https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/wellbeing/filtered-images-and-unrealistic-expectati
ons-social-media-s-link-to-depression-and-self-harm-1.894653)

6) Social Media and Mental Health

While social media can help people network with distant friends and family members, it can also
exacerbate negative feelings in individuals who are not satisfied with their lives, and create
unhealthy habits in young teens. Most of these problems stem from social media addiction.
Popular social media websites, like TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter are carefully designed to attract
a wide audience, with the main appeal being that “everyone can find something they like”.

However, when teens spend too much time immersed in this virtual world, they begin to
experience delay in social and emotional development. They lose the ability to make authentic real
life relationships, and suffer from problems such as sleep disorder, depression, stress, isolation,
and insecurity. This can be coined as FOMO , or Fear of Missing Out, the anxiety that an exciting or
interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on social
media.

Examples:
Researchers at the US National Institute of Health found that the participants checked into social
media an average of 30 times per week for just over an hour per day. Depression testing revealed
that approximately one-quarter of the participants were at a high risk of depression. When social
media and depression are compared, it was determined that those who used social media the most
were about 2.7 times more likely to be depressed than participants who used social media the
least.

People use social media to vent about everything from customer service to politics, but the
downside to this is that our feeds often resemble an endless stream of stress. In 2015, researchers

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at the Pew Research Center based in Washington DC sought to find out if social media induces
more stress than it relieves.
In the survey of 1,800 people, women reported being more stressed than men. Twitter was found
to be a “significant contributor” because it increased their awareness of other people’s stress.
But Twitter also acted as a coping mechanism – and the more women used it, the less stressed they
were. The same effect wasn’t found for men, whom the researchers said had a more distant
relationship with social media. Overall, the researchers concluded that social media use was linked
to “modestly lower levels” of stress.

In a study from 2013, researchers texted 79 participants five times a day for 14 days, asking them
how they felt and how much they’d used Facebook since the last text. The more time people spent
on the site, the worse they felt later on, and the more their life satisfaction declined over time.
But other research has found, that for some people, social media can help boost their well-being.
Marketing researchers Jonah Berger and Eva Buechel found that people who are emotionally
unstable are more likely to post about their emotions, which can help them receive support and
bounce back after negative experiences.
Overall, social media’s effects on well-being are ambiguous, according to a paper written last year
by researchers from the Netherlands. However, they suggested there is clearer evidence for the
impact on one group of people: social media has a more negative effect on the well-being of those
who are more socially isolated.

A 2015 U.K. Office for National Statistics finds that children who spend more than 3 hours each school
day on social media sites are more than twice as likely to suffer poor mental health. Their immersion in
a virtual world may cause these children to experience delay in their emotional and social development.
According to the report, social media are potentially “a source of social comparison, cyber bullying and
isolation”, which could lead to mental health problems.

Citation: Author Alyssa Alyssa is Banyan’s Director of Digital Marketing & Technology. After overcoming her
own struggles with addiction. (2020, May 29). Are Social Media and Depression Linked: Florida Behavioral
Health Center. Retrieved August 11, 2020, from
https://www.bhpalmbeach.com/are-depression-and-social-media-usage-linked

A number of studies, including that from the San Diego State University suggests that more
screen time and social media may have caused a rise in depression and suicide among American
adolescents. The study also found that people who spend less time looking at screens and more time
having face-to-face social interactions are less likely to be depressive or suicidal.

7)

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8) Social media is a readily accessible place for views to be expressed.
(positive vs negative sides)

However, as we use social media to gain freedom to bring positive change in society, we are
ironically limiting our freedom from unique views, and our sense of individuality becomes
constrained by the harsh expectations and comments on social media.

Firstly, social media worsens a phenomenon commonly found in many sources of media:
the echo chamber, an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that
coincide with their own, so that their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not
considered. With social media’s machine learning algorithms recommending posts and
information tailored to the user’s interest, they become trapped in an “information bubble”. In the
long term, they are unable to accept diverse viewpoints and become unaware of current affairs,
potentially losing their sense of individuality as they blindly follow the opinions of others. This kind
of mob mentality can affect someone negatively, and some may even lose control of themselves,
listening and mindlessly agreeing to viewpoints that they may not actually even agree with, but are
peer-pressured into doing so. This type of behaviour is ingrained in humans since we are pack
creatures, gravitating towards those with similar beliefs and interests for a sense of security.
Strength in numbers.

Under the safe cover of anonymity and free speech, social media is also able to bring out
the worst in users, which has sparked a phenomenon of online public shaming. Coined as “Cancel
Culture”, this involves public figures being humiliated and condemned by internet users, and even
having their private life ruined by the public. Once someone is accused of a certain thing, social
media users follow suit, posting hate comments, effectively adding fuel to the already scorching
fire. As information spreads like wildfire especially in social media, a riled up army of social media
users can be assembled in a span of a few hours. This highlights how nobody is above the
community of people in social media, as seen from high-profile celebrities being cancelled for a
single tragic mistake. Despite any apologies made desperately to appease the online mob, what is
on social media stays there forever, leaving an indelible stain on their careers. Their lives are
destroyed, whether due to landing up behind bars or being dropped from shows/sponsorships due
to their negative public image. Even if it ends up being a misunderstanding, the damage has already
been done, and it is close to impossible to rebuild a reputation again. Once your reputation on
social media is tarnished, people will have biases against you, and some people have even had to
cut off from social media.

“There are very few people that have gone through what they have, losing everything in a
day,” comedian Norm MacDonald said in a 2018 interview, referring to canceled comedians like
C.K. and Roseanne Barr.

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 ( ABC abruptly canceled “Roseanne” hours after Ms. Barr, the show’s star and co-creator,
posted a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, an African-American woman who was a senior adviser
to Barack Obama)

Hate speech is also prevalent in social media, defined as abusive or threatening speech or
writing that expresses prejudice against a particular group, especially on the basis of race, religion,
or sexual orientation.

(In Germany a correlation was found between anti-refugee Facebook posts by the far-right
Alternative for Germany party and attacks on refugees. Scholars Karsten Muller and Carlo
Schwarz observed that upticks in attacks, such as arson and assault, followed spikes in
hate-mongering posts.)

As Social Media presents limitless opportunities for free speech and expression, it in turn
blurs the line between fighting for social justice and mindless mob aggression. Ultimately, it is up to
us as users to do what is right on social media. Even though there may be certain guidelines
already in place meant to ensure social media users watch their behaviour, we have to be mindful
of our own behaviour, and remember that whatever we post on the internet will stay there forever.

9) Social media allows for cyberbullying, as people can hide behind an

internet facade

Studies have shown that cyberbullying is a prevalent issue, especially among teenagers
aged 12-18. Social media is becoming increasingly common, and is only going to become
increasingly popular, but this also makes it even more dangerous. There are many internet trolls
online, who call you names and try to pick a fight, and they can remain anonymous and can act
harshly towards others without repercussions. With nothing to fear, there are increasing cases of
cyberbullying due to this.

The Singapore Children's Society (SCS) and Institute of Mental Health studied data involving more
than 3,000 students aged between 12 and 17 in 2014, in a survey on cyberbullying and Internet
addiction.

Among other things, participants were asked if they had ever hurt themselves deliberately, for
example, by cutting themselves. Results show that whether participants were victims of
cyberbullying was associated with higher levels of reported self harm.

It is close to impossible to entirely ban teenagers to use social media. This is why cyber
safety is extremely important, and cyberbullying is an important problem that has to be
addressed, to prevent the safety of younger users to be compromised. Cyberbullying has

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extremely harmful effects, and can make the victim feel overwhelmed, as often more than
one person is attacking the victim at once. The victim may feel powerless, with so many
people bullying him, and knowing that there is nothing he can do about it. Cyberbullying
affects one's pride, and victims may start to wonder, if maybe the real problem lies in
themselves. They may feel self-deprecation, and try to change themselves, hoping that
they would stop being bullied. Sometimes, victims feel vengeful, and want revenge for the
injustice inflicted upon them. They plot and scheme to inflict this pain they felt on the
bullies, but this results in them stuck in the vicious cycle of bullying, where they, the
victims, become the bullies. Cyberbullying will affect the mental health of victims, and
they might feel anxious and depressed, due to low self-esteem caused by cyberbullying. In
some cases, some victims may even feel suicidal, thinking that everything is hopeless and
meaningless, and they try to end their lives. All these impacts show how badly
cyberbullying can affect the lives of victims, and show that this is an extremely crucial
issue that has to be solved.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/cyber-bullying-linked-to-self-harm-among-the-young-in-
singapore-study

10) Social media exposes people to the dangers of scams

In this current age of hyperconnectivity, social media has become an integral part of our
lives and relationships, however physically distant, are forged. However, are these connections
‘real’, or just an illusion? A ‘real’ connection could be defined as one where people can share their
opinions or feelings freely, without being judged and where other people really listen and care for
one another. On social media, with the benefit of anonymity, everyone is behind a facade and
reality is rarely presented. Photoshop and other apps thrive on social media where it is common to
present an unrealistic picture of oneself, with physical features altered, in a bid to gain popularity.
Since everything is so artificial online, this can bring about many romantic frauds, called catfishing.

When a virtual relationship across two genders is formed due to physical attraction based
on profile pictures, which can be easily altered, it becomes online dating. Online dating has its
benefits and dangers. On the brighter side, social media allows people to meet a more diverse
range of people, increasing the chances of finding a match. However, on the other hand, catfishing
or romance frauds are also prevalent where victims lose money when they agree to send their
partner money, who then runs away with the money. Emotional and financial hurt would be dealt
to the victim and the cause is social media.

For example, records show 18,000 people were victims of catfishing, or romance fraud, in
2018, according to the FBI. Additionally, catfishing results in the biggest financial losses to victims

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compared to other online crimes. Reported losses in 2018 exceeded $362 million, which is 70%
higher than it was the previous year, according to the FBI.

Therefore, this leads to the question. Can online relationships through social media be
trusted?

In addition, there are many dangers that people can face in social media
Fake news
○ Fake news can be used to incite anger or fear among people. It is easy for people to
believe things they see on the internet because of a supposedly credible web
address or sober design of the site.

● Doxxing
○ Social media is an easy way to obtain information about unsuspecting victims. They
can use doxxing to reveal personal information about someone. This private data
can often be used against the person, such as attacking them since their address is
known. The victim of doxxing is often at risk from physical and online attacks.

● In this day and age, bullying takes place online more than in real life.
○ This is mainly because cyberbullying takes place online, so bullies do not have to
face their victims. This means that it does not require as much courage to bully
them, and bullies are less likely to get caught as they can use anonymous identities.
The bullies also find that cyberbullying is not as serious as physical bullying, so they
do not know of the consequences that they would have to face
● Increases the risk of people getting scammed online.
○ Scammers can put up advertisements on social media to entice an unwary person
to purchase that product. The product may be advertised to be selling at a discount,
or there may be some ‘benefits’ to the consumer. This causes people to enter the
scamming website, through the link found in these social media platforms, resulting
in them getting scammed. Social media acts as a gateway for scammers to reach a
larger audience as there are many people using social media, and there is an
increased chance of people stumbling upon that fake advertisement, and getting
scammed. Thus, social media increases the likelihood of people getting scammed

Evidence
● In Singapore’s worst cyber attack, hackers infiltrated the databases of SingHealth,
the largest group of healthcare institutions.
○ The personal particulars of 1.5 million patients, including the outpatient
prescriptions of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and a few ministers, were stolen.
● A 2016 Pew poll found that nearly a quarter of Americans said they had shared a made-up
news story. In his experiments, MIT cognitive scientist David Rand has found that, on
average, people are inclined to believe false news at least 20% of the time.

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○ This shows how fake news is able to spread quickly through social media, tricking
many users into believing it.

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Government & Schools
The government is not doing enough to tackle the problem of cyberbullying
on social media.

In 2014, the Singapore government made the Protection from Harassment Act,
which essentially punishes people who use abusive or insulting words, and release
someone’s private information online. The Singapore Children’s Society and the Institute
of Mental Health surveyed more than 3,000 students aged 12 to 17, and reported
subsequently that one in nine adolescents had been victims of cyberbullying. A CNA
article states that based on a recent survey done with youngsters, 3 in 4 youngsters say
that they have been bullied online before, and the vast majority, 89 percent did not tell
their parents or do anything about it in response. The vicious cycle of cyberbullying is a
major issue too, with 63 percent of victims having also bullied others online. These people
compensate for their feeling of disempowerment they got from abuse by inflicting pain on
others. The findings show that cyberbullying has become increasingly prevalent as the
social media landscape shifts, and shows that the government has to step up and do more
to tackle this issue, which is affecting so many people. Although the government has
already implemented some regulations, this has proven to be insufficient, as the
percentage of people affected by cyberbullying is only increasing.

Social media plays a pivotal role in students’ education.

(Schools should encourage the use of social media in class)

Since the rise of social media websites, they have played a large role in the education
industry. Social Media allows students to connect with various learning groups and education
communities with ease. Experts in particular subjects and fields can be easily consulted through
online means, and their content, research, and projects can all be used for learning purposes. The
vast amount of information that can be obtained from social media is another advantage of social
media in the education industry. Personalised social media feeds tailor accurate and updated
information to students’ needs, and provide inspiration for future projects. By learning how to
utilise a wide variety of information sources, students also develop literacy and reading skills.

Tami Blumenfield’s case study, “Student-Directed Blended Learning with Facebook Groups
and Streaming Media: Media in Asia at Furman University,” asks what happens when students in an
general education course are allowed the freedom to explore a broad topic (media in Asia) in a
self-directed fashion, and are then asked to share their insights and analyses through face-to-face
activities and Facebook-based group discussions. 71% of students reported that Facebook and the

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independent emphasis of the course had a very positive or somewhat positive effect on their
learning at the course.

The convenience of using social media is also what makes it popular in the education
industry. Collaborative learning is facilitated by video conferencing and messaging available on
many social media platforms. Most notably, this Covid-19 crisis has demonstrated opportunities
provided by social media for distance learning. Despite many countries stopping school and going
into lockdown, students still manage to obtain a wide variety of information from social media and
easily communicate with one another.

Schools can also implement cyber wellness programmes or cyber wellness ambassador as
in the case of West spring secondary school, The West\ Spring Cyber Wellness Ambassadors play
a crucial role in advocating good Cyber Wellness practices among their peers. As the school’s Peer
Support Leaders, these ambassadors undergo yearly Cyber Wellness Ambassador training
workshop, where they get updated with the latest technological and cyber wellness trends as well
as plan and execute school-wide Cyber Wellness awareness projects and activities during the
school’s Cyber Wellness Week. Thus, this allows students to step up to become the school’s cyber
wellness ambassadors to raise awareness and promote strategies to protect themselves from
social media threats such as cyber bullying. These cyber wellness ambassadors will have a first-
hand experience on what cyber wellness is and have an in-depth learning experience of it, and in
turn with the workshops, they will be able to teach the skills that they have learnt to their peers,
encouraging cyber wellness throughout the cohort. This is the one of many ways that schools can
help students use social media safely.

A researcher of the University of Central Florida reported that electronic devices and
social media create an opportunity to the students for collaborative learning and also allowed the
students in sharing the resource materials to the colleagues (Gikas & Grant, 2013). The result of
the eight Egyptian universities confirmed that social media have the significant impact on higher
education institutions especially in term of learning tools and teaching aids, faculty members’ use
of social media seen at a minimum level due to several barriers (internet accessibility, mobile
devices etc.).

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How can schools educate students on the uses and dangers of Social Media

Schools can set up time during lessons or during assembly talks to educate students on social
media and how it can harm them. These talks can share different examples and scenarios in
which social media poses a threat to the user to show students what not to do online. During
these such assembly talks, students would be brought through a series of simulated situations
on the internet to expose them to dangers of social media and educate the students on how
they could avoid it. By equipping the students with knowledge about the dangers of social media
and exposing them to the dangers, students are able to identify such threats and use social
media safely.

For example, Touch Community Services organises interesting and engaging assembly talks for
primary school students. One of them includes a series of interactive performances which
features primary school children who inevitably face the many dangers on social media.
Through the episodes, students will see the choices the characters make and learn from the
consequences of those decisions.
With an assembly talk that engages students, this would help students relate what occurred in
the assembly to their social platforms to better understand the importance of making the right
choices on social media.

(cyber wellness ambassador point)

Schools can also implement a cyber wellness week, which includes various interactive
exhibitions and quizzes that help to increase and test students’ knowledge on cyber wellness.
Thus, students are able to learn the dangers that they might face on social media, like cyber
bullying and scams which pose huge threats to innocent students surfing social media. With the
hands-on learning experience in the event, students are more engaged in their learning and are
able to understand the various dangers that they face more effectively. Students are then able to
apply and relate what they have learnt in the real world so that they can avoid these dangers.

On top of that, the older cyber wellness ambassadors/representatives can assist the school to
organise the event and facilitate the different booths during the event. By allowing the older
students to take lead, they would be able to gain a deeper understanding of the different threats
of the internet as they have the responsibility to educate others on the subject. With this, we are
able to ensure that our future leaders are equipped with skills to use social media safely.

For example, Fengshan Primary School hosted a cyber wellness week in 2018. It included
cyber wellness exhibitions and an on-the-spot online quiz. At the exhibition, a few stations were
set up to challenge pupils who are ready to attempt the exciting online quizzes. The cyber
wellness ambassadors also set up exhibitions, by summarising cyber bullying related articles
and coming up with reflective questions, together with, convey important cyber wellness values

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to their peers. This would help the students understand the cyber wellness information more
easily, and thus keeps them safe in social media.

Additional Evidence:
1. One good example is in the summer of 2014, the #Alsicebucketchallenge that took the
social media by storm, this involved social media users taking videos of them pouring
buckets of cold ice water on themselves and nominating their friends to the same as
well. Thanks to social media, the campaign turned out to be a huge success, raising
over 115 million dollars for the research of Lou Dehrig’s disease, will 1.2 million
facebook related videos and 2.2 million twitter mentions. (spread awareness/
fundraising)

2. The hashtag #pizzagate incident which happened in the US during the 2016 presidential
elections. There were false tweets on the internet that a pizza shop acted as a ring for
human trafficking which involved presidential candidate hilary clinton. The pizza shop
received threats from right wing activists that believed the reports were true. The fake
news not only led to the defeat of Hillary Clinton but also the eventual shooting of the
pizza shop itself. (fake news/ danger of social media)

3. A study by the Straits Times proved otherwise with as many as 70 percent of

Singaporeans failing to identify false information. (fake news)

4. Social media can be used to raise awareness of injustice and to bring to light the
wrongdoings of others, some online vigilantes might go too far overboard when doxxing
someone. Some might be wrongly identified and may have devastating impact.
in 2017, when the couple was seen pushing and shoving and shouting at an elderly man
who wanted to share a table with them. Netizens tried to identify the couple and shame
them online for their act, but ended up identifying the wrong one, instead they identified
Ms Cherry tan and her boyfriend. The innocent couple ended up receiving death threats
and dare not leave their house. Ms tan posted a tweet and said that the saga has not

only hurt her but also her family and friends and that it was an emotional, scary and
traumatic experience.
(social vigilants/ danger of social media)
5. Almost 90 percent of American teens say they use at least one social media site, and 71
percent of teens say they use at least two sites. And that can have negative effects: A
recent survey found that 50%

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Possible Questions:
Is Social Media a boon or a bane?

How can schools help students tackle the dangers of social media

Social media does more harm than good, Discuss

How has social media changed the way society communicates?

Glossary
FOMO: Fear of Missing Out (anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be
happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on social media)

Cancel culture: form of public shaming in which targets are publicly humiliated on the internet, via
social media platforms, or more localized media

“Catfishing” - deceptive activity where a person creates a sockpuppet presence or fake identity on
a social networking service, usually targeting a specific victim for abuse or fraud (usually referring
to romantic scams to cheat others)

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Citations

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/hate-speech-social-media-global-comparisons

Profile, L., Oberst, L., & Profile, V. (2018, January 18). Why the Global Rise in Vegan and Plant-Based
Eating Isn't A Fad (600% Increase in U.S. Vegans + Other Astounding Stats). Retrieved August 11,
2020, from https://foodrevolution.org/blog/vegan-statistics-global/

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