As fake news swirls and cyber-bullying sticks across social media outlets, the attacks on technology continue to mount.
Educators, parents, psychologists, and many other sects of the population have come out swinging against the dangers of social media platforms. From Snap to Twitter the technology age has brought about terrors and dangers beyond belief, at least according to "experts" and analysts who often share their thoughts on the very social media outlets they shame.
In fairness, there are very real drawbacks to social media and the Internet.
Cyber-bullying is a tragedy that affects too many people every day; the pervasiveness of misinformation and lies has been greatly aided by the availability of the Internet. But, for all the harm it can do, social media can also do a great deal of good.
From viral videos of good deeds to those cute animal videos we all love, media sites can deliver a moment of light in the middle of so much dark news. Crowdfunding campaigns spread across outlets and around the world can help those who need aid the most.
But perhaps the biggest benefit of social media and the Internet is its' ability to connect individuals with one another.
People from different hemispheres can now find themselves as close to one another as next door neighbors. Fans of any book/movie/show can connect with fellow fans and form relationships with people with which they share common interests.
In my case, social media networks have enabled me to stay connected with the cross-country friendships I made at a journalism conference over the summer.
I also met people prior to the conference on Instagram and Twitter as we were all able to post about our excitement with the same hashtag. As adults laughed at and criticized social networks, we were using them for their original purpose: being social.
Somewhere along the way, a poison began to rot at the core of the social platforms so many of us use on a daily basis. Hatred, bitterness, envy, and shame all wormed their way through the fruits of Zuckerberg's (and his predecessors') labor and turned a great concept into a bad reality.
But that doesn't mean that every use of social media is now bad. Many people still take advantage of the benefits of an international platform for good.
If we all remembered the good uses and not just the bad applications, we would see that there is less to scorn and more to celebrate. Social media has its' bugs, absolutely, but it has its' beauty, too.