I was LATE to the social media party, only signing up for Facebook and Twitter less than a year ago. While social media gets a lot of flack for rotting millennials' brains, causing stress/eyestrain/lord-knows-what, and being a haven for trolls, liars, and radicals of all types—it still has some value. Since I can clearly remember a time pre-social media which many folks of my generation can't; I'd thought I'd seriously consider the benefits of this often maligned medium.
1. It's the easiest way to give contact info
"Just find me on Facebook and message me."
2. It helps scatterbrains remember
birthdays/anniversaries/events
My love for you doesn't extend to remembering your important day without a notification. ;)
3. It helps scatterbrains remember to stay in touch
We may be faraway offline, but your stuff still appears in our notifications.
3. A diversity of ideas (If you let it)
Follow/Friend/Chat with people from all over the country and world... without leaving your pajamas behind.
4. A diversity of people (Esp. Twitter)
This extend more to Twitter and other forms of social media that's not dependent on connecting with people you know offline. It's awesome to understand other people's lives through the stuff they post and comment on.
5. Read more, get woke!
The amount of scholarly reading I ending up doing on my phone because it came up on my newsfeed is amazing!
6. Eliminates the offline awkwardness that is small talk and introductions
You can just jump into a friend's conversation or message someone! And you don't need to introduce yourself because our handles/usernames are listed. The socially anxious rejoice!!!
7. Career Building
You know what, parents, writers need social media. So when I stay up late scrolling through stuff on my phone, it's actually building my future ;)
8. Distances/Time Zones Matter Less
They will just see it on their newsfeed/in their inbox later/earlier. Shout out to all the cool feminist people from the UK/Europe that I've met on Twitter because of this.
9. Make friends
I sound less socially awkward when I type opposed to talking okay.
10. Collective Brainpower
Have a weird problem Google won't give you the answer for? Maybe that random Facebook friend can help!
11. Get News in Real Time from a variety of sources
In these tumultuous political times, this is truly a blessing! I don't have to Google a million different things to get different perspectives on a trending news item.
Did I forget to mention your favorite reason for social media's existence? Tell me in the comments below!
