Social media has become part of our lives and at this point, we cannot even imagine the world without different social media channels. We are all aware of how important social media is for small, medium, and large businesses, thus here I will focus on individuals, and how social media affects our lives.

Like everything, social media has a good and bad side and hence, has a positive and negative effect on us.

Social Media can “Influence” as well as “Impact” a persons life in many ways. Those ways can be good and bad in comparison. There are people that do nothing but sit online all day every day and soak up what Social Media has to offer and do nothing productive with their lives, or beneficial for others. People take what they see on the platform as Truth without thinking for themselves, investigating the information or doing thorough research that necessitates whether that information is correct or not.

Social media can be a great place if you don‘t take it too seriously. Being always updated by your relatives, watching your friend tell funny stories and all that can be entertaining and I think only few people become addicted in these cases. At the same time, Social Media can be a platform for success! People network and solve issues through this medium. People provide answers, such as this platform. People can have thriving businesses via this method. People that have been lost, have been found as a source of using this tool. People keep in touch with friends and loved ones that they could not otherwise see from anywhere on the Globe as a result of Social Media. People share their most personal and private information which may account as a plus to some and a hindrance to others.

The place for social justice – bullying

It is easy to state your opinion on social media – everybody does that. It is even easier to do that if you are behind a nickname and there are a lot of people like that. With or without it, social media has become a place of social justice. One can get judged by the other social media users because of wrongdoing, the #Metoo campaign is a very good example of it. Sometimes this kind of social media campaigns can be good and have a positive outcome, sometimes people who did nothing wrong might become victims

It has made communication more touchable

It might sound confusing, as social media is often blamed for damaging honest, natural communication. However, with the help of social media communication is so much easier. One can contact people or brands and businesses directly in a way that was impossible in the past. Messenger or DM takes us closer to every kind of person and we can vocalize our thinking very quickly and in a very easy way.

Mental health issues

It is one of the most negative and serious issues related to Social media. It is more common among young girls who often compare themselves to others. They often see rate themselves based on the number of followers and the number of likes on their pictures. Some of the surveys claim that most of the young people who do not receive “enough” likes on their pictures find their day ruined, and even delete these pictures. They measure their self-worse based on these metrics which negatively affects their mental health.

Sex is seen as taboo in most cultures and societies. Sex Education is seen by many people as something unnecessary and an uncomfortable thing to discuss as any discussion regarding. we can, should, and need to make sure that basic education is available to any person who asks. And we need to present enough to insure that they do actually ask, or can go read the rest for themselves. Mostly, this is about kids, but it can be anybody. Not all adults have this education themselves!

Sex Education isn’t just about telling kids about safe sex and preventing STDs, its also about informing students about the various physiological and the psychological changes that happen during Adolescence. In India, sex education is still a taboo. Forget sex education, the word sex is still a taboo among many Indian households. Although India has developed and modernized in a lot of ways, we still have to overcome many of our taboos and prejudices. Education is the primary tool to achieve that.

In India, in schools, we are taught about the anatomy of male and female reproductive organs and reproduction. STD are given a cursory glance, contraceptives are mentioned in a line and that is the extent of it. This is just a part of sex education. It doesn’t cover a lot of other topics. This is a major problem.

According to UNICEF, 47% of the girls are married before 18 years of age and 28.5% of women give birth to their first child before that age. (Mentioned in a United Nations Population Fund report). Almost none of them have any basic idea about sexual and reproductive health, birth control and healthy sexual habits. For years together the only aspect of sex education the government has been focused on is population control. This doesn’t even cover a minor part of sex education.

This mindset is changing slightly as result of private workshops being setup in many urban areas, but it is not enough.
If we want the present generation and the next generation to live a safe and secured life, there is a need for a comprehensive sex education at home and in school dealing with the psychological, physiological and social issues pertaining to sex and reproduction.