Whether it’s Facebook or Snapchat, a lot of us have been on social media. Social media is just websites and apps where you can share stuff with people, right? Sure, it seems that way. But in reality, once you enter the social media world, you can’t get out.

How Does Social Media Help Us?

A lot of people post pictures or videos on social media. For example, a picture of your dog on Facebook or a video of a cool soccer move on Instagram. Social media is used to keep in touch with people. If you have friends that live far away, you can use Facebook or another social media app to tell them what’s going on. If you don’t keep in touch with old friends, you could lose them. So in a way, social media helps you keep friends. For adults, they keep in touch with family that lives far away or with childhood friends. They post pictures of us kids to show people how much we’ve grown. On apps like Pinterest, you share your creative ideas with others and you get inspired by other ideas as well. Pinterest is the perfect social media app if you love arts and crafts and being creative! According to Forbes, social media can be used by companies and other people to send out information about a product to large groups of people. Basically, instead of e-mailing each individual person, you can use social media to send a message to more people faster. According to SocialMedia Today, social media has provided us with more access to information than ever before. Also, people might post how-tos by giving you a chance to learn something. You can also connect with people across the world in a matter of seconds!

So What Are The Negative Effects? 

Social Media, as well as the internet, is like a whole other world. In this world, you can’t get out. Once you post something, it never ever leaves the internet. According to BusinessInsider, not even Snapchat deletes your stuff! That may seem confusing considering you see it vanish, but do you actually know where it goes? There is a way to get those “deleted” photos and messages back.

The name “social” media can be misleading. Despite the name, social media actually prevents you from being social. Sure, you’re liking posts and chatting with friends. You may think, “Isn’t that good enough?” Why talk face to face when you have a device that sends messages at rapid speed, right? Wrong. According to BBC 40% of the world’s population spends an average of two hours a day on social media. Imagine having a conversation with someone. Their smartphone dings so they pull it out of their pocket. Turns out someone posted a picture of their new puppy on Instagram. You keep talking, but then you stop. Your friend is staring at their phone, ignoring what you have to say. You walk away as they like posts on Instagram. You may think you said something wrong. No, social media is distracting your friend from being social and having a face to face conversation.

Opinions- 

“I think it’s good because it’s kind of like a bridge, connecting things so we can do it more easily, but I think it’s bad too, in some ways. If you use it in a bad way, it can be a weapon.” Yoonjoo Oh (7)

“I think social media is pointless because you already have text and phone calls. So you don’t really need to do Instagram. You can already send pictures and videos through text messages.” June Jung (7)

Good or Bad? 

I’m not saying social media is a bad thing. The bad thing is when you get addicted to it. When you’re on the internet or social media, always remember that when your post goes out there, you can never permanently delete it.