Social media use is at an all time high in today's society. Nearly everyone has a Facebook, young or old. Majority of college aged students have Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter as well. Social media is an amazing way to stay in touch with people you can't see often and to reconnect with old friends, and to share your children, family, and adventures with others. It sounds great. But there are so many problems associated with social media.
First, social media is addictive. I'm absolutely guilty of losing sleep because I'm too busy scrolling through Facebook or uploaded selfies. Studies show that use of social media actually releases the same brain chemicals that are released when you do cocaine. It becomes addictive and can be the center of your thoughts all day long.
People also love showing off their lives to others. It's great to share with others, but this is taking us away from living life! When we go to a concert or hang out with friends or travel, we are more concerned with Snapchatting and Instagramming photos than actually enjoying our time. It is actually sad. It's one thing to take photos to remember a fun time, but it's become the sole purpose during our times out in life. It's also a problem that seeing other people's "exciting" lives on social media makes people feel upset and can even lead to depression. "Sarah' goes out with her friends all the time according to her Facebook, her life must be more fun that mine". People only show positive things on social media. Why would you post that you are laying on your couch eating chips? Everyone does it, but because no one posts the boring parts of their lives, it creates an illusion that our life isn't as exciting as everyone else's.
People also feel bad when they don't have as many likes or followers as others. We don't realize though, that real life friends are what matter! Just because you don't have many likes doesn't mean you are not well liked or that you don't have many friends outside social media.
Another issue is safety. It's risky posting photos of your child at all, but now a days, we can't even post a cute photo of our child in the tub because a pedophile may go after it. Our private accounts aren't really private. Posting your address, your school, your location and particularly your child's information is way too risky. Social media is a dangerous world for children, whether they are using it themselves or if their parents are posting risky information without realization.
Don't get me wrong, social media is an amazing way to get a community or even a country to come together. It's an amazing way to spread awareness of lost people, diseases, crimes, and news. It's an amazing way to talk to people we haven't seen in 5 years and to get to see their new children. But, I wish social media wasn't the way it was. I love my social media, but there's so much I hate. It's a give and take kind of thing and unfortunately we just have to do the best with this crazy new world of social websites
