Social Media is one of the most useful tools that has been created and is useful for helping us be connected with friends and family that we might not ever have the chance to see again. Even with how useful Social media is, it can be a huge problem. Social Media has the propensity for greatness, and for extreme damage.

One major problem that often arises from social media is bullying. Bullying is a systemic issue in our nation so much so it has become part of everyday life for many people. This past week the app "Sarahah" was dropped from media stores due to its ease of use for bullying. While Sarahah was an anonymous platform for messaging and was intended to be used as a medium for offering constructive criticism, it turned into something quite different. This can also be said for most social media platforms. While they have all been started with the best intentions in mind (keeping friends and family close) they have all become quite different than intended.

Life is not an easy walk and social media is not our avenue on which to trip others. Too often we use our social media as a platform to be contentious. We do not have the right to be unkind or contentious simply because another person posts something we disagree with. Because we have media platforms that reach into every group of people we must learn to be tactful, even respectful.

The very reason social media was created was to create a medium in which we could be more social. One could say we created the very evil we tried to destroy. Social media sources often create an outlet where we don't have to be social. We must not allow social media to make us less social.

Because social media has become such a rooted part of the culture, we must train our youth on how to use media how it was designed. People will always find a way to abuse the technology that we have aspired.

When using social media we should have a zero-tolerance policy. We should block and report users that do not align with the purposes or values of the media platform we are using. Reporting other users is a protection mechanism that the developers have in place to allow the users to protect themselves.

That said, having social media is a wonderful thing! Using the different platforms just requires some extra attentiveness to stay informed and instruct others on proper usage.