Every day, we hear people say how the "younger generation" can't look up from their electronics long enough to hold a conversation, or that the millennials don't appreciate what they have because we were raised with the technology around us and have never understood the language of face to face interactions, or writing out a letter, or making a phone call to a friend from a landline. People not born in the same generation as us "tech savvy kids" seem to think that the social media aspect is tearing our culture apart.
While it is true that my generation, as well as the upcoming generations, are very fortunate for all of the technology that has come our way, the older group of people seem to have a false impression of social media.
Sure, there are plenty of irrelevant things going on on multiple social media platforms on a daily basis, but if we take a deeper look, we can see that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
First of all, we all know the great feeling you experience when you check your phone screen and you have a like on your latest Instagram, or a favorite on a tweet of yours. It can be a real confidence booster when you see that people have been reacting to things that you are posting about your life. We know that it is not the same as someone paying you a compliment in person, but it has been proven that your brain actually releases more endorphins when you check your phone and there is a notification waiting for you, which literally means it makes you happier. Who doesn't want that?
Also, what would the internet be if it wasn't there to make us laugh? The amount of time we have all spent on Youtube watching videos might be embarrassing, but they can be educational, informative or just plain funny (like this one). Aside from Youtube, the entertainment that the older generation never grew up with: Twitter. In my opinion, Twitter gets a bad reputation. How else are we supposed to choose a side in the Kim/Kanye Vs. Taylor battle? Do people expect us to read about presidential updates without a meme or funny video to go along with it?
In all seriousness, social media plays a very helpful role in today's society. With all of the messed up events going on around the world, we are all uniting. A shooting occurs, and a new supportive hashtag appears to be trending. This might not seem like a lot, but it informs people, lets everyone know we are there for each other and starts movements. Thanks to websites like Facebook, people are now able to show support through donations online and posting pictures and encouraging messages that are seen by millions. Of course, with every new event, tweet, photo or scandal (or a speech plagiarism issue *cough* Melania Trump *cough*) there are going to be some negatives, but I believe that within the past few years our society has grown closer than ever because of the unity that social media is able to bring us.
Maybe it's things like Pokemon Go that give the millennials a bad wrap, but we are truly an inspiring group of people and I am motivated to do more because of the daily movements. If we keep moving in the direction we are going, people will soon change their mind about us being too into social media and technology and realize that we might know what we are doing.
