[Music] hello and welcome back to our beloved listeners this is the 8 Minute English podcast series on the learn English podcast Channel I'm your host Nathan and it's a pleasure to have you with us again before we get into today's topic I want I want to ask you something think about a social media platform that you use every day how many times do you use it per day there's no denying that social networks like Facebook Instagram Tik Tok and Twitter have fundamentally transformed how we communicate share information and spend our time in the modern age in today's episode we'll explore the impact of social network also we've prepared a special free PDF for this episode full of useful tips and vocabulary to help enhance your learning make sure to check it out today we're in a training session with James and Chloe they're talking about social media and its impact on our daily [Music] life good morning Chloe happy first day as our new intern I am the manager of the marketing department today we will have a training session for interns and I will directly share knowledge about social networks with you thanks James I'm eager to learn about this exciting topic let's begin with my space back in 2003 people could make their own profile pages with colors music and pictures do you remember my space Oh yes I recall my space a little bit didn't it let you pick your top eight best friends correct the top eight friends feature was very popular on MySpace it was one of the first big social networks connecting people online after 2008 Facebook became more widely used than Myspace Facebook had a simpler design with news feeds photo tagging and the famous like button I know Facebook well my parents didn't let me join it until I was older during my teenage years Facebook just looked cleaner compared to my space's busy page is true using social apps on phones made it much easier to share posts and videos wherever you are platforms like Tik Tok really capitalized on that great point about Tik Tok their endless feed of fun short videos tapped into keeping people's attention hooked like never before the evolution continues okay Chloe now that we talked about how social networks changed over time let's discuss why people can get really interested and even hooked on using them yes I want to understand the psychological reasons behind why social media plays such a big role in people's lives and emotions nowadays one main reason is the desire to connect with others and feel like you belong posting updates and getting likes comments from Friends gives people a feeling of social approval I can relate to that urge to share parts of my life online and have others react positively it does give you a little boost exactly and feeling fear of missing out or fomo is another big motivation seeing what friends are doing makes you want to stay updated yes I've definitely experienced fomo before when scrolling through everyone's posts it's easy to keep checking compulsively the endless scrolling and small rewards like a new like or comment released dopamine in our brains it can create habits similar to a gambling addiction it may seem extreme to compare it to gambling but I can see how those little rewards could really make it habit forming over time definitely social media is designed using psychology to maximize engagement notifications streaks endless feeds they tap into human behavior next let's talk about privacy concerns with social media protecting personal information online is very important oh yes privacy is definitely something I worry about when using social networks social media companies collect a lot of data about our interests locations contacts and behaviors this data is very valuable for advertising it's kind of scary how much personal information gets tracked just from normal usage but I guess that's how they make money through targeted ads EX exactly and sometimes this data gets shared with thirdparty companies without users realizing it there have been some big privacy scandals I remember hearing about those scandals in the news it makes me concerned about who might access my data and personal details right while social media provides many benefits we have to be proactive about privacy staying educated on best practices is important let's discuss how social media media impacts our relationships and connections with others yes I'm curious how platforms like Instagram and Tik to affect friendships dating and even family bonds social media definitely allows us to stay in touch and share updates with friends relatives more easily but there are potential downsides too it is convenient being able to message and see what friends are up to online but I could see how it might replace actual in person quality time exactly some research shows increased passive social media use can make people feel more lonely and disconnected in real life that makes sense just scrolling through posts without real interaction could negatively impact close relationships over time another issue is couples being distracted and not present with each other due to excessive social media habits it can cause conflicts you're right while social media facilitates connections across distances we have to be intentional about balancing online and real world [Music] relationships now that we've heard some wonderful weekend stories let's talk about some key vocabulary related to our topic first up Evolution to the slow steady development of something in politics Britain has Preferred Evolution to Revolution next is emotion a strong feeling such as love fear or anger the part of a person's character that consists of feelings they expressed mixed emotions at the news addiction is another noun the condition of being unable to stop using or doing something as a habit especially something harmful he's now fighting his addiction to alcohol let's look at advertising the activity and Industry of advertising things to people on television in newspapers on the internet Etc paid advertising on social media is an assured way to reach out to customers finally disconnected to related to or connected with the things or people around I felt disconnected from the world around me let's delve into two important questions about our topic the first question is how social media affects our relationship in daily life personally I think while social media helps us connect with others from far away it can be hard to manage both online and faet to-face relationships the second question how business can take advantages of social media for me companies can leverage social media as a tool to reach customers more quickly through engaging posts as these posts often Garner a lot of attention I'd love to hear your thoughts on these questions please leave your comments below and let's [Music] discuss as we wrap up today's episode I will tell you some funny and surprising facts about social media that you may not know Instagram has over 1 billion people using it every month that's a lot of people sharing photos and the most most liked Instagram photo ever is an egg a simple picture of an egg has over 54 million likes some social media influencers can make a lot of money the highest paid influencer in 2022 was a soccer player named Cristiano Ronaldo he made $1.6 million for just one sponsored post isn't that interesting social media started small but now it's huge and affects our lives in many ways that's all for now but I will come back with an interesting topic in next episode we can keep sharing keep connecting and remember the internet remembers everything [Music]