Tag: Digital Life

THE SOCIAL DILEMMA

Name : The Social Dilemma
Director : Jeff Orlowski
Genre: Documentary-Drama
Language: English
Streaming Platform: Netflix

Consider how many times you’ve been searching online shopping sites or even just having a chat with a friend about the one pair of boots you’ve been eyeing online, just to be bombarded with ads for the same product an hour later – this isn’t a coincidence, and The Social Dilemma examines how this happens and why we, as users, should begin to be suspicious of the content and messages we receive.

Jeff Orlowski’s film The Social Dilemma was released on Netflix in September 2020, right in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic that forever changed the face of social media. The film follows a group of former employees of social media behemoths (Google, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook), all of whom quit their jobs due to ethical issues. The documentary also includes a dramatisation that attempts to depict the inner workings of these corporations and the methods they use to manipulate and direct human behaviour in an imaginative and objective manner. Although there is no doubt that technology has improved our lives by allowing us to access limitless information at the touch of a button and promoting interpersonal contact between people all over the world, the documentary focuses on how businesses use the information they collect about their customers to create strategies to keep their interest and increase profits. The Social Dilemma contains several shocking data about the effect of social media on mental health, which has resulted in skyrocketing depression and suicide rates among young adolescent girls – unsurprisingly, young adolescent girls make up the majority of this demographic. The “digital pacifier effect” is explained by Jonathan Haidt, an American social psychologist: when a consumer turns to the media to alleviate anxiety, dopamine is released in the brain, and this mechanism is cyclical. “There are only two businesses that call their consumers ‘users’: illicit drugs and software,” says a quote from the documentary. Edward Tufte is a writer and academic who is well-known for his contributions to the field of.

You are not alone if you felt unsettled and vulnerable after watching this film. We genuinely believe that we choose the content we consume because of social media’s illusion of power. However, there are some easy measures we can take to actively combat such algorithms and regain control of our behaviour, such as reducing non-urgent app alerts, avoiding clickbait content and suggested videos, and fact-checking information across multiple channels before liking or sharing it.

THE EVER EVOLVING SOCIAL MEDIA ENVIRONMENT

People’s information acquisition and processing has changed dramatically as a result of today’s digital revolution. The digital world is now dominated by social media as it has never been before. Customers no longer rely on companies to tell them what to purchase or how to feel about their products or services. Consumers, on the other hand, are more likely to discover useful information on their own or by trusted friends or resources. Most importantly, they want to do so at a time and location that is convenient for them. This shift in consumer culture and behaviour necessitates a significant shift in how companies view social media. Social networking entails far more than just posting information and interacting with it in the hopes of it going viral.

Alternatively, it is a strategic communications approach that aids in the development of personal relationships with clients as well as the achievement of business objectives. Social networking, when used strategically, is the most effective way to practice inbound marketing. Social media has the ability to influence public discussions and expectations, develop brand recognition and loyalty, draw partners and consumers, and establish brand evangelists because of its unique existence as both a public and one-on-one platform. Social media has generated a stir across the globe, and its rapid growth is reshaping our entire world in ways we’ve never seen before.

This means that having a social media presence is now more important than it was previously. Every company should embrace this shift because the world is changing by the minute. What used to work on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook can no longer work. This increases the need for highly qualified and experienced social media administrators who are familiar with the entire business model. As a result, they will develop innovative strategies to meet the high-end demands of companies in the digital age.

Cyberbullying and Students

In today’s world, cyberbullying cases are common. Many students are negatively affected by it. Let us learn about it and know to stop it.

What is Cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying is bullying with the use of digital technologies. It can take place on social media, messaging platforms, gaming platforms and mobile phones. It is repeated behaviour, aimed at scaring, angering or shaming those who are targeted. Unlike the normal face-to-face bullying, cyberbullying leaves a digital footprint – a record that can prove useful and provide evidence to help stop the abuse.

Cyberstalking is a form of online harassment in which the perpetrator uses electronic communications to stalk a victim. This is considered more dangerous than other forms of cyberbullying because it generally involves a credible threat to the victim’s safety. 

Internet trolls intentionally try to provoke or offend others in order to elicit a reaction. Trolls and cyberbullies do not always have the same goals: while some trolls engage in cyberbullying, others may be engaged in comparatively harmless mischief. 

Effects of cyberbullying

When bullying happens online it can feel as if you’re being attacked everywhere, even inside your own home. It can seem like there’s no escape. The effects can last a long time and affect a person in many ways:

  • Mentally — feeling upset, embarrassed, stupid, even angry 
  • Emotionally — feeling ashamed or losing interest in the things you love
  • Physically — tired (loss of sleep), or experiencing symptoms like stomach aches and headaches 

The feeling of being laughed at or harassed by others, can prevent people from speaking up or trying to deal with the problem. In extreme cases, cyberbullying can even lead to people taking their own lives.

Fighting cyberbullying 

If you think you’re being bullied, the first step is to seek help from someone you trust such as your parents, a close family member or another trusted adult. In your school you can reach out to a counsellor or your favourite teacher. And if you are not comfortable talking to someone you know, search for a helpline in your country to talk to a professional counsellor.

For bullying to stop, it needs to be identified and reporting it is key. It can also help to show the bully that their behaviour is unacceptable. If you experience cyberbullying, you may want to delete certain apps or stay offline for a while to give yourself time to recover. But getting off the Internet is not a long-term solution. 

  • Think twice before posting or sharing anything online – it may stay online forever and could be used to harm you later. 
  • Don’t give out personal details such as your address, telephone number or the name of your school.
  • You can decide who can see your social media profile, send you direct messages or comment on your posts by adjusting your account privacy settings. 
  • Besides ‘unfriending’, you can completely block people to stop them from seeing your profile or contacting you.
  • You can also choose to have comments by certain people to appear only to them without completely blocking them.
  • You can delete posts on your profile or hide them from specific people. 

NEW AGE OF ONLINE LEARNING

Getting educated has never been this easy. Putting the relevance of colleges under the spotlight.

A few decades back, not everyone had the liberty and the opportunity to go to college. The huge numbers of people joining colleges rather than the workforce was not the thing back then. 

The expensive college system paved the way for such a trend, which was also aided by the lack of infrastructure and other opportunities in most sectors which are quite relevant now.

The brick and motor system of people finishing school and then going to college to get a job has been changing slowly but significantly for the past few years. Lesser and lesser people have been seen shutting the eye towards getting a college degree to have a guaranteed successful career across the industries.

The current pandemic status quo is sure to have put a dent to this trend on a larger scale. With the ever fluctuations in the job market and the downward scaling of businesses, employees in most industries are scrambling to make sure that they will have a living by the end of the pandemic. 

Making the fear of the pandemic second to the fear of having a job to hold on to sustain a living. The hardships of having a job did not seen this hard in a while.

The upscaling of technology has certainly impacted the education system the most. With the widespread of internet and other gadgets, it has allowed people to even resort to remote learning; from upskilling to even pursuing degrees these days.

Aiding schools and universities to function on with their course structures to an extend.

It has also paved the path for people building up and pursuing shorter courses, which helps in building up certain skills and foundations in almost all the sectors of business. Contributing to a more conscious and productive workforce yet to have hit the floors.

People now have the liberty to sit from the comfort of their homes and with a few clicks be able to start doing a course to up skill their own person. Making the opportunities to learn a plenty and the easiest it has ever been.

The pandemic and shifts in the education system has promised that the system is never going to be the same again.

With people resorting to digital measures to eliminate their shortcomings of knowledge regarding different spectrums, it has started giving major companies sound grounds to even consider candidates without a proper degree for various job opportunities.

With the ability to receive information and answers regarding almost everything with just a click of a few buttons, has shown that the people are going the extra mile to incorporate additional skills that might help them become more educated to handle the tasks at work and also developing as professionals. Paying homage to the age old saying, “with great powers, comes great responsibilities.”

These all have made the jobs of the recruiters much easier, by letting them have the freedom to have a chance to hire people with the right skillsets, which would let them employ the workers without further training or other actions. Making the pace of the workplace faster than ever.

Digital Marketing

  • What is Digital Marketing ?

Digital Marketing is marketing and advertising of business ,person, service or product using electronic device and digital technologies. Few examples of digital technologies are social media (Facebook, WhatsApp ,Instagram etc.) ,email ,SMS.
Basically, digital marketing refers to any online marketing efforts or assets.

  • Why digital marketing ?

With the growth of electronic devices and Internet, more people are spending their time online. Over 7.7 billion people use the Internet across the globe. It’s become an integral part of everyday life to conduct searches, check social media, and purchase products online.

Your customers are online, which highlights the importance of digital marketing. They’re browsing the web looking for your products or services. If they can’t find them because you don’t have an online presence, you risk losing those leads to your competitors.

To drive the best results for your business, you need to build your online presence. You will reach more leads that want your products or services.

You have options, which isn’t the case when using traditional marketing. With traditional marketing, you have fewer choices. You only have a couple of channels available, like radio, print, and TV, and many of these channels are expensive, which limits your choices further.

Choosing to use Internet marketing gives your company access to a range of strategies. You can pick the ones that match your business, goals, and target market the best, which helps you maximize the impact of online marketing on your bottom line.

  • How does Digital Marketing work ?

Digital marketing works by using a number of different strategies. Each of these may serve a totally different purpose even though they have a common goal. The strategies work together in order to drive relevant traffic to a business (either online or off) and then convert a one time visitor into a returning, loyal customer.

  • Types of Digital Marketing

There are several types of digital marketing some of them are :-

1. SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.

2. PPC

PPC stands for pay-per-click, a model of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Essentially, it’s a way of buying visits to your site, rather than attempting to “earn” those visits organically. Search engine advertising is one of the most popular forms of PPC.

3. Content marketing

Content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience online. It is often used by businesses in order to: Attract attention and generate leads. Expand their customer base. Generate or increase online sales.

4. Social media marketing

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service.

5. Email marketing

Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email.

6. SMS marketing

SMS marketing, also known as text message marketing, is a method by which businesses and organizations send out specials, coupons, promotions, alerts, and more via highly targeted, permission-based, opt-in text messages.

7. Video marketing

Video marketing is using videos to promote and market your product or service, increase engagement on your digital and social channels, educate your consumers and customers, and reach your audience with a new medium.

  • How to create digital marketing strategy ?

Learn how to create digital marketing strategy now :-

  1. Determine your digital marketing goals.
  2. Choose your digital marketing channels.
  3. Set your digital marketing budget.
  4. Develop your digital marketing strategy.
  5. Launch your digital marketing strategy
  6. Monitor your digital marketing campaigns.
  7. Implement digital marketing campaigns improvements.
  8. Measure your digital marketing ROI.
  • How to find a digital marketing agency ?

You can find dozens of digital marketing agencies with a search on Google, but finding the perfect one for your business takes work. You need to determine your budget, research your options, meet your potential partner, and more to find the best agency for your company.

Get started on your search by following these steps:

  • Brainstorm some digital marketing goals
  • Choose a few preferred web marketing strategies
  • Determine an online marketing budget .
  • Compile a list of potential agencies by searching online and asking colleagues
  • Review each agency’s prices, services, and what their services include
  • Explore each agency’s case studies,testimonials and reviews
  • Request a custom quote or proposal from each agency
  • Meet with the agency and ask questions about their approach, results, and background.

The Digital Cocaine

Cocaine is a stimulant that affects the central nervous system, it powerfully affects the body and the mind. Using cocaine can damage brain cells, even after a few times of heavy use. Like other stimulants, cocaine gives you a rush of energy, which boosts your alertness, leaving you feeling a “high” from the drug.

While Cocaine can be in the form of powder or crack, a very prevalent sort of cocaine is the digital form which we commonly know as SOCIAL MEDIA. Just like cocaine, the use of social media realizes dopamine which travels through the brain and causes moments of happiness and satisfaction, these tiny moments of satisfaction leads to excessive use and thus leading to addiction.

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Not only teens but grown-ups too use social media as a virtual scrapbook to document every detail of their life as they are living it. From multiple points of view, internet-based life has improved our lives by interacting and motivating individuals. Be that as it may, there is a clouded side also. Besides all the contrary posts via Social media, the cyberbullying, and the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) that exists, ongoing studies show that over the top online networking utilize prompts helpless dynamic, yet individuals who utilize web-based life perpetually frequently have mentalities, behaviors, and practices that impersonate those of an addiction fanatic.

Researchers at Michigan State University conducted a study where the participants completed a common psychological task known as the Iowa Gambling Task, which helps gauge value-based decision-making skills. During the task, the goal is for the participants to collect as much money as possible. The researchers found that those participants who spent more time on social media were likely to have less money at the end of the task. Meanwhile, those who spent less time on social media finished the task with more money. Because this type of deficit in decision-making skills often goes hand-in-hand with drug addiction as well as gambling addiction, the researchers likened the results of excessive social media use to aspects of addiction.

When some people are unable to check their social media accounts, it causes them to break out in cold sweat, they get anxious and nervous. Such situations are often referred to as social media anxiety disorder, by therapists, which is similar to social anxiety disorder.

It is important to see the initial signs of social addiction, just like any other addiction, this could also be kept under control. Just like any other addiction, this digital addiction could be lethal to human mind if not curbed on time.