Many People Make Friends Through Social Sites And Chat Rooms IELTS Writing Task 2

However, the internet is constantly there with us, linking us to a huge global community whom someone is always ready to communicate or interact with. The greatest way to make friends is in person, even though the internet is a great tool for connecting people. Such platforms have a plethora of risks associated with them. These risks have huge implications both on the physical health and mental health of individuals. As per a recent survey of Cambridge, the most common crime committed by youngsters nowadays is cybercrime, which is also growing alarmingly quickly. This is making social media platforms a dangerous place. It all begins with befriending innocent people and then trapping them, misusing their data for ransom, and other crimes including sexual assaults, etc. This is a typical pattern to fool people and threaten them with their data and ask for huge sums of money. They also often sell such information to make money to third parties who use the data per their interests.

Trusting people blindly and sharing information with them on the pretext of friends is a grave error that youngsters commit. This makes it extremely important to monitor such social media platforms and mitigate the possibilities of cyber-crimes. Therefore, it is essential to not indulge in such practices. That is why it is not preferred to make friends online where one is at play with her safety.

We, humans, need someone to talk to and communicate with, an ear to hear us. Further, our issues and opinions, and social media sites have been fruitful in fulfilling our social needs. It is connecting people from different regions and cultures and also promotes the bonds of friendship and love.

But, is it appropriate to make online friends? Since meaningful friendships can only develop through proximity and direct contact, making friends in person is the best alternative. Making relationships online is a serious hazard. It is affecting the minds and lives of youngsters who have been in search of gaining followers and finding new friends. Some people under the garb of friendships try to extract relevant data which can be your personal information, pictures, and family contacts. Sharing them with strangers poses risk not only to the privacy of the concerned person but also to your family and friends. It has become pertinent for people to avoid sharing their data with strangers especially, on social media. Further, the friendships that one can make offline are no match with online fake friends. Your thousand friends on social media are of no use if no one is your real friend, although one real friend which you make offline is enough. Friendships online are good to an extent but can’t be a replacement for real friendships. As per a report, too much screen time especially being spent on social media can be dangerous. This can be harmful for youngsters as it affects their cognitive skills, hence online friendships are less accepted.

Social life is already braided with social media, as per pew research center. All teens, regardless of color or ethnicity, are equally likely to feel more connected to information. These are about what is happening in their friends' lives via social media. It would be absurd to recommend that you disconnect from your social media friend. Thus, one can say, social media has become an essential component of our lives.

But every component has its pros and cons. Similarly, social media is filled with various perils. The crimes are increasing at a fast pace. This is to say social media is not a safe place to make friends and trust unknown people. Specifically, the cases of sexual harassment and assault are common. Years back, a case has come to light in which a sexual exploitation case on social media. This has been reported in which the Court observed the exploitation taking place on such social media platforms. "The use of social media in present times is the norm. People use social media for networking, knowledge, and entertainment and indeed not to get stopped or be exploited sexually and mentally. This was quoted by vacation judge, Justice Anoop Chitkara, while denying bail to a 19-year-old accused. The accused who had raped his minor Facebook friend in November 2019. "Just because the victim sent a friend request to the accused does not give him the right and liberty to establish sexual relations with her," observed the court.

Making friends online entails unnecessary dangers. Therefore, it is crucial to exercise caution before engaging in such actions. Such platforms are not regulated, there is a need to monitor them carefully.