Negative Impacts

Despite the numerous amount of positive impacts that social media can have, there are still just as many negatives to it as well. These platforms may require people to have a lot of time dedicated to viewing posts, responding to messages daily, and some investments may be required to boost their profiles. It can also lead to bad publicity, especially if people post problematic topics such as politics, as some people may find it unfavorable. In this day and age, something known as cancel culture has been more prominent than ever, unfortunately, the biggest contributor to this would be social media. There have been numerous cases where people have lost their jobs, opportunities to further their career goals, and much more.

Social media platforms can indirectly cause several hardships for people looking for and maintaining jobs, especially if they post content that is considered controversial. There are many times when people have said things on platforms not thinking twice about it, or are too young to understand the severity of their comments. Many people these days grow up with the luxury of having new technology to use, and parents may fail to monitor what their children may be doing online on social media. In many cases, people can recall an instance where they have posted something online that can be deemed as derogatory or inappropriate. In the internet age, even if something is deleted, it could still be reposted and leave a digital footprint forever. The repercussions are even worse if they have high-ranking positions in companies or are illustrious figures. For example, an art director that worked for the brand Lululemon had posted something extremely distasteful, which had the words "Bat Fried Rice" during the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. His Instagram was flooded with thousands of comments condemning his behavior, especially as an art director for the huge athletic apparel company, and an influx of emails swarmed Lululemon customer support about the problematic post of their director. The company responded accordingly by immediately firing him and addressing the issue by saying it did not align itself with any of his disgraceful posts. It does not matter how high of a position someone may have as soon as they post something super controversial it can call for immediate dismissal from their job, showing just how mindful people need to be when they post things on platforms without thinking.

Many employers will unethically do a background check on those they may hire, and those checks include acts such as looking at all your profiles on media platforms. People forget that employers want to know almost everything about the people they are hiring and will look at their profiles on every platform. If these recruiters deem things people post as controversial, it can indirectly lead to them not getting the position or even losing the job they may have had for years. With these changing times, many people who have said problematic things in the past have had to own up to their mistakes or risk being shunned by society for their actions. Chrissy Teigen had something similar happen to her when she was exposed for bullying a woman online mercilessly, even wishing death on the young lady. Afterwards, the victim told her story of how she was being bullied by Teigen, many social media users flooded the model's account with concerns and wanted Teigen to be held accountable for her horrifying actions. Nobody would have imagined someone like Chrissy Teigen could have such disgusting behavior to a woman who was 8 years younger than her, many were shocked as she still had some of these mean tweets about the victim online for years unnoticed. Teigen has since apologized to the victim, but it still had so many detrimental effects on her image as a role model to some people. These platforms must be handled with utmost caution as well, especially when posting topics that have nothing to do with their branding. If people choose to have their private life shown to the public online they need to be mindful of the things they comment and post, or else it can be easily misconstrued and used against them.