The Social Media Phenomenon

There is one thing that I really don’t want to care about, but seeing the phenomenon that is happening nowadays through social media, it’s just giving me “unscratchable itch” and makes me want to pour it all into this writing.

Social media, a place to connect you with everyone in different regions of the world. Almost everyone can easily have an access to the internet nowadays, especially with a smart phone in their hand, it’s like you can explore the world with just one finger tap.

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Of course social media has given us various advantages—stay connected with family, friends, and even meeting new people seems so easy. If you own a business, the easiest and fastest way to promote your business is through social media. Through social media, various information can be accessed so quickly and easily, we can find out the most up to date information in just minutes after it happened. And there’s many more, things we can get from social media.

In this current era of globalization, social media has grown in various platforms. Facebook, Twitter, Path, Instagram, Tumblr, Ask.fm, and many more. Users are also vary in age, from children to adults. I’m also one of them. Therefore, I also observe the things that happens there. And what really annoys me, which makes me upset with this whole social media situation are;

1. The trend of “showing off” and building fake images on social media
2. Fake news / hoax is everywhere without the awareness to review and investigate the truth of the news
3. It turns out that in this world there are so many bad, mean people, who can only put evil comments against a person’s life or a phenomenon, when they only know nothing

Well, this show-off trend is the first thing that makes me slowly leave social media like Facebook, Twitter, Path, and Instagram. Everyone would prefer to post a life that “looks perfectly perfect” into social media. Showing off after buying new items, showing off when you hang out in some luxury malls, showing off your fancy foods, showing off your new cars, showing off your new boyfriend, showing off your holiday pictures, and showing off anything.

Then there is the most ridiculous thing I encounter in Path, when some of my friends can post all their activities in a day. Starting from waking up, then showering, having breakfast, photos of the traffic when leaving for work, etc, and etc, until finally they post something to tell everyone that they’re going to sleep. And finally I’m at the stage where I’m tired seeing people’s lives through social media in such detail. It’s just too much! And anyway, if I really want to know what is my boyfriend doing, or my family, and close friends, I can directly ask updates about it. Well, that’s indeed one of the disadvantages of social media, people are more prefer to interact through the virtual world rather than direct communication.

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I once had stalked the Instagram of someone I know, whom in real life is disliked by everyone who knows the true nature of her. But when I saw her Instagram, surprisingly she has a different image there. So I also concluded that social media is also the place where people build fake images.

Then the second reason, about fake news / hoax. Seriously, this is also very annoying. Media is the largest source of hoaxes that can build dangerous opinions. With the social media, the hoax can be easily shared to everyone. Worse yet, many people simply believe those fake news, without checking the real truth.

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Actually there’s a lot of fake news out there. One of the most ridiculous examples is that one children’s game is linked to bring deviations of Islamic faith. A few months ago, a Pokemon Go game was so booming, surely you all know this game isn’t it? The game was so popular and produced a new social phenomenon in the community, everyone was excited to play this game to find Pokemon, even a celeb like Justin Bieber also joined the hype, going around the city looking for Pokemon.

Along with the excitement of the game, there were also a fuss mentioning that the game contains an insult that can’t be tolerated by Islamic faith. What circulated in social media was that the word Pokemon is actually means “I am Jewish” in Syriac, while Pikachu is mentioned meaning “Be Jewish”, and Charmander means “God is Weak”. And of course it’s a hoax. You can check yourself in the online dictionary for Syriac, even the word Pokemon itself is not found.

Then the next phenomenon in Indonesia occurred not so long ago, a suicide bombing at the Terminal Kampung Melayu East Jakarta, where the pictures of the scattered body of the suspect became wide-spread in social media. Then a few moments later it was circulated that the identity of the suspect or the perpetrator who was found with his head still intact, was actually a member of the Indonesian police force, accompanied by a photo of someone whose face resembled the perpetrator, dressed in a police suit. Public who easily fooled concluded that the bombing was the police ugly tactics to cover up some issues or the corruption, and they shared the news on various social media. Then a next day, a video of clarification from the accused person appeared, he was alive and well, and declared that he would not do such a thing to divide the country. Well, surprise, another fake news!

And nowadays, there are many more fake news / hoax that carry the name of religion and politics out there, spreading like a wildfire, which is makes me more upset and fed up. It builds opinions and fuels emotions, which can divide the unity of many people. This has gone to a very dangerous level and please stop this.

Please, be a smart internet user. Actually, by swallowing all the information received in a straightforward manner, it’s just showing your true qualities, that your analytical ability is just like that, your observational ability is just like that, how innocent you could be, to be overly trusting and easily affected by some fake news. Do not embarrass yourself, especially if you have brought the name of your religion and country, do not embarrass the name of your religion and your country just because of a fake news that can bring conflict and destruction.

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Then the last reason. The hot debate on social media is not an unfamiliar thing. Mean words, curse, and insults can be easily seen in a forum discussion or a comment section on various social media. I can’t believe it, is it real that people can be that evil? Or social media that makes people evil? Especially the celebrities, every day they often receive verbal abuse from strangers. But compared to the celebrity itself, I am more sad for their children, who end up getting the same verbal abuse, even the toddlers. Imagine, they bully the child that basically doesn’t know anything. But the social media users have no conscience, so ferociously attacked their opponent with rage. Yet those who put evil comments and humiliations are nobody, they only know the news from a social media without witnessing directly. Please take a look at the mirror, who are you, so that you can judge the lives of other people who have nothing to do with you? Should you speak that badly of others? Is your life so perfect that all the wrong things deserve to be judged and humiliated?

Despite everything bad that happens in social media, in fact social media that can benefit us in various things. We do not have to stop using social media for all the bad things we see. I also still use social media for certain purposes. But, we must be a good and smart user. If there’s anything we do not like, there’s always an unfollow button to click. If there is any news that incites hatred, do not believe it easily. Do not let life in social media influence your mindset and attitude. Use social media as a place to share positive things that can help and inspire others and also for yourself 😀

Have a good day!
– Dian