Social media, just like the internet, has had its runs with mixed reviews despite its relatively short lifetime. Though, in my opinion, with the continued revolution when it comes to cellphones and the like, there’s been quite the serge in both popularity and adverse affects on the user’s psyche. For example, with the increase of younger and younger generations getting their hands on cellphones and, in turn, social media, there’s been quite the spike in confidence issues and depression in said younger generation.

Although social media, like the internet, has its pros and its cons, there are still things that drag it down as far as ethics go and its affects towards others. One of the biggest affects that plague’s modern social media is that of said social medias mining data of its users to use and sell towards advertisers. This is pretty messed up in itself, but the idea that people entrusted with private information sells that information to other strangers is just bazaar and downright scary.

With sites like Facebook having started this trend of using social media posts to target advertising, its been known for quite some time that other sites followed in turn. Instagram, Snapchat, and the like using certain things you post to target things you may have been, or are, interested in buying. It may seem harmless in the long run but honestly what else could this be leading to?

What do you think? Will data mining lead to other things that may pose a threat to us in the future?