LSME410 - Critical Thinking Skills: Assignment 2 Case Study Analysis

This case study critically analyzes the arguments surrounding the impact of social networking sites on society, examining both positive and negative aspects. The analysis delves into the increasing usage of social media, its role in political activism and social change, and its influence on employee productivity and data privacy. The case study evaluates the sources of information, including studies on user demographics, political campaigns, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The author discusses the systematic approach used in the case study, assessing the objectivity of the views presented. The study highlights the importance of understanding the implications of social media usage and the need for providing adequate information to users about potential risks. The conclusion emphasizes the increased use of social networking sites and their impact on communication, entertainment, and various aspects of life.

Critical Thinking Skills
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Contents
ASSIGNMENT 2 (Case Study)......................................................................................................3
Analysis of the arguments presented in the case study................................................................3
Critical evaluation to the sources of information and data used in this case study to validate the
positions taken.............................................................................................................................5
In conclusion, comment on the systematic and rigorous process carried out in producing the
above case study. How far do you think authors have remained objective in their views?........6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
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ASSIGNMENT 2 (Case Study)
Are social networking sites good for our society?
Analysis of the arguments presented in the case study
The primary argument which has been made throughout the case study by the author
revolves around the negative and positive aspects of social media and social networking sites. It
has been analysed that the number of people using social media networking sites as a part of
their daily routine has increased substantially over the past few years and primarily in this decade
with a rapid change and innovations in the technology. Mobiles and computers have become
more affordable and easily accessible which has been the reason for an ever-increasing number
of users on social networking sites along with an increased access to internet as well. According
to author, it has been analysed that increasing engagement on social networking sites has positive
aspects which includes increased interaction between friends, education and learning material
and resources, participation in social and political activism along with an increasing exchange
and dissemination of information very rapidly (History of Social Media, 2020). On the other
hand, negative aspects of excessive use of social networking sites might include impact on
children’s education, wastage of time, decreased productivity, being the victim of online
disinhibition effect, making children more prone to eye diseases and mental illness, spreading of
rumours and potentially harmful or dangerous information without any filtration etcetera. The
boom in users on social networking sites came along with the launch of Facebook and in the year
2012, when it reached one billion users globally which makes every one in seven people an user
of Facebook. It can be analysed that the primary source of revenue which has been described by
the author in the case study for these social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
etcetera is advertisement and user data in some cases. However, the demographics of user has
increased from only young and adult users to people above the age of 50 years as presented in
the case study by the author but it needs to be realised that a significant proportion of users of
these social networking sites primarily including people aged over 45 years are only making use
of a limited number of features and are unaware about the disrupting features which are inherent
in these websites which increases the exposure to harmful and adverse impacts of social media
and networking sites (Boulianne, 2015.). It has been analysed in the case study that social media
and social networking sites have a very vital role to play in the political landscape shaping and
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influencing the decision of a voter. A day before the 2008 US Presidential Elections, the number
of supporters for Barack Obama were 38% more than the Republic Candidate on Facebook
which demonstrates the agenda and the dynamics of political elections in 2008. It can be
analysed that increasing use of social networking sites for better transparency and engagement
with the citizens was a primary agenda of the Obama’s tenure with an objective of reforming the
way government interacts with the citizens. The fact that image of Obama along with his wife on
winning the Presidential Elections in 2012 became the most re-tweeted image on Twitter
determines the impact and influence of social media on political scenario (History of Social
Media, 2020). It can also be analysed that social networking sites also play a major role in
increasing activism on various social issues and changes which are necessary. For example, the
protests in Egypt, Iran and Tunisia were primary fuelled by the active use and organisation of
social media. It can be analysed that in today’s world, any information particularly about the
need for social change or any sort of activism such as human rights violation or pride parades
gain massive popularity and receive wide support with the help of social media. Hence, social
media does play a very vital role in political scenario and social change activism (Gil de Zúñiga,
Jung and Valenzuela, 2012). Further, it can be analysed that the argument made by the author in
the case study with respect to negative aspects of social networking sites is concerned with
decreasing employee productivity due to active engagement of employees on social media sites
even during office hours for personal use other than cases where the company requires an
employee to extract some information using social media. It can also be analysed that a lot of
users without any awareness exposes themselves to a great risk while engaging with social media
or networking website. On the basis of data presented in the case study, it has been analysed that
the number of phishing acts and the acts involving data and personal identity theft has increased
exponentially over the last few years (Bossetta, 2018). All these factors can be considered for
analysing that the primary flaw or problem with social media usage relates with unaware use and
no proper information about the harmful and negative impacts of social media being provided to
the users. Online disinhibition effect and anonymity which the internet and social networking
sites have to offer also increase the risk of threats and sexual harassment offences and crimes on
these social media sites (Lapidot-Lefler and Barak, 2012). Many rules and data protection laws
have been implemented by the government but the primary responsibility lies in providing
adequate information about the usage of social media and networking sites to the users. It has
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been analysed that social networking doesn’t create a very negative impact on the grades and
education of students rather it increases the multi-tasking ability of the children. Facebook was
held accountable for mishandling the data of users which was misused by a consultancy firm to
create and advertise the political campaign in the US Presidential Elections in 2016 which can be
analysed to determine the potential of social networking sites to create an adverse impact
(History of Social Media, 2020). At last, it can be analysed that social networking sites have
been the most popular and widely used source of information during the Covid-19 pandemic
which shows that most people in today’s era rely on these social networking sites for any kind of
information which can also have very serious negative implications.
Critical evaluation to the sources of information and data used in this case study to validate the
positions taken.
The respective case study is about social networks which are used by everyone in today’s time.
There are several social networking sites such as facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram,
Pinterest and many more. According to the given case study author says that around seven out of
ten Americans people use social networking sites i.e. nearby 69 % which is right because in
today’s time almost every young as well as elder people is not different social networking sites
but their motive to use it is different (Amin and et. al., 2020). In respect of this young people
generally used to entertain them self, chat with friends and relative, getting information and
many more whereas companies and political parties used social networking sites for promoting
their product, services and parties. Moreover, according to given data in case study facebook is
one of the mostly used social networking site and on it 71 % adults are online every time in
United Kingdom, this is right because every person has facebook account and they see online
when internet data is on so there is less chances that a person who is online all the time is active
on respective site too. This is also possible that they are using it in their free time like lunch,
break, while travelling and many more.
Social media sites is also considered as huge source of advertising as well as advertising
is also huge source of revenue for social media sites. This is so because a company can find wide
numbers of audiences in one time at social media like YouTube, facebook, instagram, Twitter
and so on (Anderson and Reid, 2020). In addition to this by advertising on the different social
media a company able to attract huge audiences which is of all age group that will directly help
them in enhancing sales and profit as well as respective source of advertisement is not much
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expensive in nature. According to the case study social networking is also play major role in
political as well as social change because social networking sites are used by young audiences
who do vote in elections so by advertising as well as promoting parties at social media will help
legal parties in attracting audiences. Whose main example is the 2008 presidential campaign
through the social media because through it Barack Obama attract and has facebook supporter in
huge number i.e. 2,379,102 a day before election which is 38 percent more than the Republican
candidate John McChain who had only 620,359 supporters (Dehghani and et. al., 2020). So it
can be considered that social media help a political party in attracting audiences or support. This
is so because through it political parties can easily attract audiences as well as promote their
parties effectively which help them in gaining succession in election. Along with this, according
to the given case study, social media also considered as factors for the low productivity as well
as security concern at the workplace. It is so because according to the data of 2012, 64 % of
employees visit to the non work website which include facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter
and many more which directly or indirectly impact on the employees as well as organization
productivity (Ritonga and et. al., 2020). But in this respect it is possible that employees are using
different social networking sites at their free time like lunch, tea break, emergency time and so
on. On the other there are some social networking sites which have some useful informative
content like LinkedIn, Twitter and so on, that may also be a reason for employees for visiting the
social networking sits. In addition to this, social media like facebook is considered as one of the
main source of gaining information because according to case in 2020 mostly people take
updates about COVID 19 through the facebook as well as various news companies post
information on it.
In conclusion, comment on the systematic and rigorous process carried out in producing the
above case study. How far do you think authors have remained objective in their views?
According to the topics discussed above it can be conclude that in today’s time use of
social networking sites get increased as well as it is not only used by young individual but also
by elder peoples. This is so because it is considered as one of the main source of communication
as well as entertainment and in current time price of mobile phone gets decreased or available at
all price range (Lee and et. al., 2020). Due to this mobile can be affordable by every person and
there are no registration charges on the social networking sites which encourage more people to
use it for their entertainment and communication. On the other there are several limitations of
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using social networking sites which are faced by society in today’s time through different
situations. That will include theft of personal picture and information and then use for the illegal
activities, sexual harassment, young or students are not able to focus on their study, decrease in
productivity of employees as they get busy in scrolling as well as chatting in working hour.
Moreover it also impact on the health of a person because using too much social networking site
impact on the person mental as well as physical health as while this they not do any activity
which make them lazy (Putri, Roza and Maimunah, 2020). In addition to this there are several
situations which show that social media impact on the society very much in both positive as well
as negative manner such as now political parties can promote their activities through social
media. A person can gain information through social media, companies able to promote their
products and services with minimum advertisement cost. Moreover it also provides wide range
of sources for an entertainment to a person. In respect of this it can be said that in the current
time usage of social networking get enhanced which impact society widely in both positive as
well as negative manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Amin, A.M. and et. al., 2020. The Correlation between Metacognitive Skills and Critical
Thinking Skills at the Implementation of Four Different Learning Strategies in Animal
Physiology Lectures. European Journal of Educational Research. 9(1). pp.143-163.
Anderson, P.R. and Reid, J.R., 2020. Critical thinking in a college of business
administration. Southern Business Review. 38(1). pp.21-30.
Bossetta, M., 2018. The weaponization of social media: Spear phishing and cyberattacks on
democracy. Journal of International Affairs. 71(1.5). pp.97-106.
Boulianne, S., 2015. Social media use and participation: A meta-analysis of current
research. Information, communication & society. 18(5). pp.524-538.
Dehghani, Z. and et. al., 2020. The effect of reflection on clinical journalism on critical thinking
skills of nursing students in Shiraz medical university. Interdisciplinary Journal of
Virtual Learning in Medical Sciences,. 1(2). pp.17-23.
Gil de Zúñiga, H., Jung, N. and Valenzuela, S., 2012. Social media use for news and individuals'
social capital, civic engagement and political participation. Journal of computer-mediated
communication. 17(3). pp.319-336.
Lapidot-Lefler, N. and Barak, A., 2012. Effects of anonymity, invisibility, and lack of eye-
contact on toxic online disinhibition. Computers in human behavior. 28(2). pp.434-443.
Lee, D.S. and et. al., 2020. Critical Thinking Skills of RNs: Exploring Demographic
Determinants. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing. 51(3). pp.109-117.
Putri, A., Roza, Y. and Maimunah, M., 2020. Development of learning tools with the discovery
learning model to improve the critical thinking ability of mathematics. Journal of
Educational Sciences. 4(1). pp.83-92.
Ritonga, S. and et. al., 2020. The effect of problem-based video animation instructions to
improve students’ critical thinking skills. JPhCS. 1460(1). p.012107.
Online
History of Social Media. 2020. [Online]. Available
thru<https://socialnetworking.procon.org/history-of-social-media/>
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