The common view of many is that social media is bad. Countless studies are done about the negative effects of social media, the amount of time teens spend on Snapchat, the things people post on Instagram, etc. However, nobody really focuses on the how it helps us.

The other day, I was reading an article about agents of the transmission of ideas during the Classical Era for my AP world history class. At the end of the article, it asked a question about what acts as agents of the transmission of ideas ideas in current times. It took me less than a minute to come up with a response to this question. The response: social media. In classical times, people from various empires and societies used trade routes like the Silk Roads and the Indian Ocean Trade Routes to exchange ideas such as religion and philosophy. In current times, social media is used to exchange various songs, trends, and items. Just as people centuries ago would not have functioned the way they did without their trade routes, people now would not be able to function the way they do today with social media.

After Google searching “articles about social media,” every single article on the first page presented social media with a negative connotation. Social media can also introduce people to new opportunities. In fact, more than 57 million people in the USA use LinkedIn, a social media platform meant for businesses. According to Randy Duermyer, LinkedIn “is a valuable resource for career and business professionals to network, get resources and support, and build relationships with potential customers, clients and partners.” Many people’s businesses are based on LinkedIn, a social media platform. Without, business in the 21st century would not be the same.

Social media also positively affects friendships. Personally, I have many friendships that are maintained over social media. For the past six years, I have been going to sleep away camp with people who live all over the East Coast. Thanks to social media, our friendships grow even stronger when we’re not together. This is the same for many other long distance relationships. Whenever somebody is in a long distance relationship, whether it’s a friendship or something more, they can find comfort that they will always be able to be in contact with that person over social media.

Finally, social media positively affects people by spreading awareness. Oftentimes, I find myself informing my parents (who don’t have social media) of something big that happened in the world that day. When they ask me how I know this, I am often able to respond by saying that I saw it on Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat. Without social media, people would be uninformed about what’s going on in the world.