Social Media is extremely prominent in today’s world. A person can take a picture and
simultaneously post it to for the world. Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter are only the beginning of our online presence on social media. We, however, fail to understand that social media is not the same as interaction in real life. When a person types a couple words and comments on another person’s Facebook wall, it isn’t the same as telling the same person to his or her face.

Social media has a double-edged sword effect on most people. Social media is only as good as its content, so the content depends whether or not social media can be used as a good or bad thing. First, it can be a good thing because it helps build a brand to an individual or group of people as well as connect people at long distances. Using social media can help brand companies with the values and themes important to them. We must represent who we are, both in everyday life as well as online.

But social media can also have negatives. Connecting with someone online is very different than connecting with someone online because it feels stranger to talk to a screen and still associate conversations with a human and not an electronic device. Writing something online can have a confidence booster in a friend, but, in the end, it disconnects from the world.

Social media can detract from all of the other important things in life. You cannot feel the same way about a baby's smile on the internet as you do with a baby's smile in real life. Even science tells us that having face-to-face interactions help with oxytocin and creates more happiness around others. Don't forget that there is a world outside of the internet.

I'm not trying to be that person who is says that "social media sucks." I love posting about the world around me and taking horrible pictures myself to send to my friends, as much as the next person. But I do know that there is more to life than this social media craze. But I'm not going to stop posting to Instagram every now and then.

So, this is my warning, take it or leave it, you can have a slightly different online presence than your real self. But when there becomes a huge divide between the two, then that is a problem. As with anything in life, social media has to be in moderation to be great. That doesn't mean that your life and even your online identity cannot be extraordinary despite this distinction.