Is Social Media Good Or Bad?
Our relationship with technology has come to define our generation. We are said to have an obsession with social media and amount of attention we get on it. Our relationship with technology has not been all negative though, even though the negative aspects are the part most talked about. Growing up in the age of technology has given us the ability to improve it and be damaged by it.
I would like to first address the positives that social media has provided people because they are talked about less than the negative. Older generations are the ones who know it all because ‘back in the old days’ they did it all. However, sometimes it feels good to be able to teach them something they don’t know. Adam Earnheardt said, “Teens/tweens feel self-worth by teaching new technology to those much older and wiser, while the older group feels better connected not only to their grandchildren but to people they may not have communicated with in decades” (Smart). I completely agree with this statement because there is not a lot a can teach my parents or grandparents but using technology is definitely one of them. Since technology is so big now, your social footprint can be tracked. In the workplace, employers tend to like to see what their possible employee does online. Building a “positive digital footprint using social media is a great way for students to shine online” (Smart), and it gives you the chance to show what you are interested in and your personality. The internet is essentially a digital resume. Before the world wide web, people could communicate but not as broadly as they can now. I can communicate with someone on my phone who lives on the other side of the world. Or I could follow someone on Instagram, or Facebook, etc., that lives in a different country. There are no limits to how far social media platforms can extend, and that leaves the door for communication, with people all over the world, wide open. Another good thing that social media has done for us is giving us more opportunities to have access to study groups online and to have more opportunities to learn new information. Online tutors and study groups can be very helpful, especially in a time like this. The last point I want to make that is positive is how social media lets you connect with your friends. Unfortunately, people move sometimes, but that shouldn’t mean you can’t still communicate, and social media gives a perfect platform to still see what they are up to and talk to them.
The more commonly addressed side of social media is the negative impacts it has on people, and a big topic of that is their mental health. A big reason that social media has caused problems for people’s mental health is because of the comparisons people make. People look at what others have and “We fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others as we scroll through our feeds and make judgements about how we measure up” (Walton). When you look at someone’s life on Instagram, they only show you the perfect parts, and the viewer starts to think that their life does not equal the other persons. This makes them feel sad and isolated, making looking at things on social media toxic for some people. “It’s no secret that the comparison factor in social media leads to jealousy” (Walton) because this is how online bullying began. People feel inferior and get jealous and this leads to mean comments being made about other people. However, they just want the other person to feel bad because they are jealous of the way they look, or how they get to live their life. A dangerous thing about social media is that it makes people lonely or feel isolated because of things they see people post. Also, people think that because someone has a lot of friends on a social media site that they have lots of friends in real life, and that is very rarely the case. People use social media to make themselves feel better by getting likes or comments on a post, but in reality, it can make them feel worse when they compare themselves to someone else’s post.
In general, no one can really say if social media is a bad thing or if it is a good thing, because everyone uses it differently and views things they see differently. Do we get false information from the internet? All the time. Do people photoshop their pictures to make people think they are living a better life than they are? All the time. However, it depends on the person if they let those things get to them. I definitely believe there are times when social media has taken up too much of my life, but since I am aware of that I try to limit the amount of time I spend looking at peoples posts or worrying about what someone else is doing. Our parents definitely worry about our use of technology, but for us it is just a way of life that we have come to accept and known for a long time. Is it toxic at times? Of course, but the biggest thing is knowing that the person on the other side of that picture on Instagram is probably feeling the same way about something they saw, and the chain continues on.
Smart Social. “10 Examples on the Positive Impact of Social Media.” Smart Social, 1 May 2019, smartsocial.com/positive-impact-of-social-media/.
Walton, Alice G. “6 Ways Social Media Affects Our Mental Health.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 3 Oct. 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2017/06/30/a-run-down-of-social-medias-effects-on-our-mental-health/#163b5d822e5a.
