No doubt, social media sites have a huge influence on people, especially on young people and their social skills. But a more detailed look can reveal that this influence is controversial. On the one hand, young people became more aggressive and rude because of remote and anonymised types of communications. On the other hand, children and teenagers have more freedom to choose between different points of view.
There is a common opinion about negative impact on people from social media. First of all, these sites are strongly addictive for everyone. Youth can spend all day just scrolling feeds. Young users prefer to chat in messengers, reading topics that their friends had reposted, watching video content instead of healthy activity in the fresh air. Obviously, this lifestyle can cause various diseases at a young age. In addition to that, the youth have a tendency to be more rude and disrespectful on the web.
At the same time, there is the other side of social media impact. Thousands of youth can be engaged in various communities around the world without huge expenses. Everyone can find friends with the same interests, everyone can share the information that can inspire people in another country, everyone, even with hard diseases can avoid loneliness. Furthermore, on the Internet it is much easier to find answers to controversial questions. Sometimes it is really hard to get support for different opinions in local schools or even in the family. But on the web you can reveal thoughts and prove to them that can help you to stand up for yourself.
In my point of view, there are more benefits from social media. It is just another way to communicate or change information. Clearly, there should be rules. For example, we teach children how to read before giving them books. And we must teach everyone how to use social media in the safest and the most productive way. What is more, if we are talking about inappropriate behaviour on the web, for example anonymised offences, we should decide what it reveals about. If the only thing that can stop people from insulting each other is face to face meeting, that is talking more about our society then about social media sites.