Social Media Has Changed Us:
In the span of ten years, social media has become an integral part of daily life. A decade ago, people were starting to get onto this “social media” trend by joining MySpace, writing in their LiveJournals, and chatting on AIM. Today, the first thing many people do in the morning is grab their phone to check theirFacebook notifications, Instagram likes, Twitter replies, and more. A constant presence in our lives, social media has its positives and negatives.
Good: Constant, immediate connection to others
Gone are the days of sitting by the phone to wait for an important call. Gone are the days of having no way to contact someone if they weren’t at home. Gone are the days of having to call ten people, one after another, to make plans for a group dinner. With text, Facebook messages, WhatsApp, and a whole gamut of other messaging services, we’re constantly connected to each other. Communication is instant and perpetual. There’s no need to wait days to receive letters from faraway friends – just text them. There’s no hassle in accidentally standing someone up because they weren’t at home when you called their landline.
Bad: The mask of anonymity
Trolls used to be creatures that lived under bridges in children’s fairy tales. Today, trolls are one of the worst parts of social media. Behind the safe shield of anonymity, people freely unleash racism, sexism, negativity, ignorance, and all sorts of venom. People become extremely bold and uncensored online. It’s easy to unleash hateful tirades upon strangers you’ll never have to confront in real life.
Good: Staying up-to-date
You can fill your friends in on important news immediately and at once, with no need to individually meet or call each person. You never have to forget another birthday since Facebook reminds us. If a huge world or national event happens, you won’t miss is even if you don’t watch the news because your newsfeeds will be covered with article links and statuses about it. The modern world has the unique ability to follow breaking news as it breaks through witness accounts on Twitter, even if the events are happening halfway across the world.
Bad: Lower self-esteem and distorted competition
Everyone’s lives look great on Instagram and Facebook. Scroll through your newsfeed and it’s a collage of success and happiness – who got into a top university with a scholarship, who just got engaged, who had a beautiful wedding, who just got promoted, who is on a Caribbean vacation, who just found out they’re pregnant, who just got an amazing new job….. The list goes on and on. Social media is a place where we post the highlights of our lives. We don’t post about the bad – unless we think it’ll get us a bunch of sympathetic likes.
Envy of others and feelings of your inadequacy are extremely common when looking at social media. Everyone else seems to have their lives together. We don’t post about our embarrassments, struggles, or fears – again, unless we think such a post will garner a lot of likes. Everything is about making your life look great, like a series of wins, funny moments, and glamor.
Furthermore, there’s another troubling trend: the thirst for likes. Nowadays, it’s not so much what you did or how much fun you had doing it – it’s about documenting it in the best possible filter and getting as many likes as possible. Go to a party. You’ll see those people that are more focused on taking a good selfie or having a friend take a cool picture of them than enjoying their time. They’ll also take time picking a good filter and thinking of a like-worthy caption. Romance isn’t between two people anymore, either. Get flowers? Instagram. Anniversary? Instagram. Did he do something incredibly sweet? Facebook status. If you don’t post about it, did it really happen?