The first thing most of us do when we wake up in the morning is grab our phones.
The alarm went off..it’s too early..the sun is bright..and our beds are a nice cocoon. To give us an extra 15 minutes in bed we scroll through our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and various other news feeds. Once we are done, we will probably start the cycle over and over again. When we can no longer refresh any longer, we force ourselves to get out of bed to get ready for the day.
In today’s society, we give social media too much power and too much credit. We have labeled it dozens of different ways -- mainly bad or good. What we need to realize is that social media only has as much power as we choose to give it.
Social media is evil.
We are probably all guilty of scrolling through our newsfeeds over and over throughout the day. Most of the things we see are harmless and do not impact our lives in any way. Other times, we see pictures, tweets, and comments that leave us feeling upset, jealous, or angry. These feelings will stay with us and sometimes cause us to lash out on our own, via social media.
Lashing out should never be the answer, but behind the screen of our smartphones, we feel as if we are shielded from any repercussions from our actions. It can be viewed as an “outlet” or a “personal diary", but there is nothing personal about the Internet. Anything you put out there will stay on the web, forever, regardless of that “private” profile you have that you think is protecting you. Perhaps the most common argument for social media is that we spend more time on these apps on our phones, rather than socializing with people in real life.
Social media is good.
Before the Internet, you had to write or call people in order to stay in touch. If numbers or addresses changed, there was little chance that you would be able to find this friend again if you were not close to begin with. Social media has changed that.
Through sites like Facebook, you can stay in touch with your friend you met abroad in Germany, your high school French teacher, or relatives you don’t see often. Through sharing things about our lives on these sites, we allow others to peek into our lives without having to dedicate two-hour-once-a-week phone calls to catch everyone up. Not only are we able to stay in contact with our friends and family, we are able to network in ways that were never plausible before.
Sites like LinkedIn have given us the option to create a professional profile that shares our experiences with business people around the globe and keeps us in contact with our co-workers. Perhaps the best thing about social media, is how it has connected the world. YouTube, for example, has created stars that can relate to hundreds, even thousands, of people on more personal levels, regardless of whether you know them or not.