I know a lot of people who are completely anti-social media.

For instance, one of my closest friends swears that it’s just a place for people to show off their seemingly perfect lives, and create this façade of happiness or fun. The sole purpose of social media, in many people’s eyes, is to convince others that they’re living wonderfully content lives, when in reality, things aren’t as “picture perfect” as they seem. My stepdad swears he’ll never create a Facebook, because “what’s the point?” He assumes it’s just for nosy people, yet every time I hand him my phone to show him a picture someone uploads, he can’t resist the urge to keep scrolling down my feed. I guess what they say is true, social media is addicting. But, why does that necessarily have to be a bad thing?

Personally, I have a completely different take on the age of Social Media.

I don’t see it quite like they do; In fact, I actually love the idea of social media. Having a Twitter and Instagram doesn’t mean I’m “addicted to my phone” (okay, maybe having my social media apps saved as "distractions" in my phone means I am a little bit addicted, but that’s besides the point.) In my opinion, keeping up to date with social media allows you to keep in touch with old friends and current trends.

For instance, before I went away to college, I can’t tell you how many people told me I’d lose touch with all of my friends from high school. “You find out who your real friends are in college,” was all I ever heard. And its true, I did make some of my best friends in college. However, I still communicate with my best friends from high school on a daily basis. Truthfully, I believe social media is to partially thank for that. Of course, we get together constantly over winter and summer break, but while we're all away at school doing our own thing, we're able to update each other constantly because of social media. I always know what my friends are up to, and if I don't, I can easily check out their most recent posts. We can snapchat on a daily basis, text, call, FaceTime, tag one another in posts that we find relatable or funny, and we don't need to speak every single day to know what's going on in each other's lives. Back then, when our parents, grandparents, etc., graduated and moved on with their lives, they had a much more difficult time staying in touch with old friends. Of course, they could write letters, or pick up the phone and dial, but what happened when someone moved houses? Nowadays, cell phone numbers barely ever change, and we have the blessing of such thing called “Facebook Friends.” Of course, there are going to be people you lose touch with, and that’s a part of life; however, it’s completely easier nowadays to stay updated on what people are doing with their lives and communicate back and forth much more frequently.

I don’t see social media as an outlet for trying to prove to others that you’re life is completely awesome and fabulous. Instead, I see it as a way to document all of your memories and life experiences. I love looking back and reading old tweets every once in awhile, because I love to remember how I felt at that exact moment in time. If I'm ever wondering how I felt on this exact day last year, TimeHop quickly reminds me that I "totally hated my sister for borrowing that shirt without asking, like, OMG." Or, I'll occasionally scroll down my own Instagram feed and reminisce when I'm missing some pretty great nights with some pretty great friends.

A few months ago, I spilled green tea all over my laptop - which holds over years and years worth of my pictures – and it didn’t turn on for a few days. In those few days, I had the panic of a lifetime: am I going to lose thousands of pictures from the past couple of years? Thinking about it made me sick, because how else would I be able to remember all the memories I had from all four years of high school, my freshman year of college, etc? Thankfully, I got it to turn on a few days later, but thinking back, most of those pictures- the really, really important ones- were already uploaded to my Facebook albums and Instagram page. So, if I ever lost them, I’d definitely be able to access them somehow. Social media is just a way to keep and share those memories.

So, who cares what anyone else thinks? The way I see it is, if you like something, you have every right to share it with the rest of world. If you're proud of something, make a status about it. If you think you look great in that picture from so-and-so's cousin's best friend's sister's barbecue, upload it. If you agree with something someone writes on Twitter, retweet it! Of course, there are down sides to owning social media, like the risk of putting too much out there. But if you’re going to use it, and be smart about it, I don’t see the harm. As long as you’re protecting your information and being responsible with what you post and share, using social media never made you a bad person.