Whether you check your Facebook only once a month, or you have 5 different social media accounts that are all hooked up to your phone's notification system, social media has impacted all of us. There are so many amazing things that social media has done for our society, but I think that we often times look past the negative effects it has had on us as well. To me, social media has given me a way to connect with long lost friends and even be able to contact famous people, but it is also something that has destroyed my life.
It took up all of my time.
The average person spends 4 years of their life on social media, I probably spend more. It's the first thing I look at in the morning, and it is the last thing I look at before I go to bed. And it's always my go-to when I'm bored or in an awkward situation. I once tracked the number of hours I spent on my phone in one day, and found that I spent fifteen perfect hours of my time that I am awake using my phone.
It puts an image in my head of who I am supposed to be.
Nearly every picture in the media is edited by Photoshop, which makes the ideal body image absolutely impossible. How can we possibly look like the girl on the bulletin board when she really doesn't even look like that? The ability to edit a picture has reached the common public as well, with the uses of simple editing apps and filters. We know these images are not real or “unedited", but yet we still strive to achieve it, and begin to hate ourselves when we can't.
It made me crave popularity.
With a big, bold number stating just how many people liked your picture and how many people follow you, social media gives us a way to rank ourselves. I began to believe that that number determined my popularity. I would strive to get hundreds of likes on my posts and was often disappointed when I couldn't.
It has made me socially inept.
We have confidence when we talk through the Internet because if something gets awkward or weird, we just delete it or ignore it. This is not a possibility when having face to face interactions. Our generation has become obsessed with online relationships, as friends and couples spend more time talking through their phones than in person.
It negatively affected my future.
We've all been told countless times to watch what you post because it will affect your employability. We laugh and roll our eyes when we are told this for the 40th time, but none of us ever actually pay attention. If one friend tags me in a picture, I am forever attached to it. Employers aren't dumb either; they can tell when you are drunk in a picture even if you've made sure to crop out the red solo cups. One boy in my high school posted a negative comment towards one of our teachers. He got suspended for three days all because of some impulse moment of rage.
It caused me to lose friends.
Information spreads like wild fire on social media. The minute something is posted it can be on hundreds of peoples' news feeds. It's also incredibly easy to post something online that you would never actually say out loud. I've had my fair share of tweeting mean things at people and having mean things tweeted at me. Subtweets have caused me to lose many friends, as people tweet nasty things about you or you tweet about them, but without actually stating their name. Was losing a friend really worth that one stupid 140 character post?
It made me too open about my life with mere strangers.
If someone took the time to stalk every single one of my social media accounts, they would probably know every detail about me, from my address to the last time I ate. Not only is this insanely dangerous, it is also annoying. Nothing is a secret anymore. You break up with your boyfriend, and everyone watches as your Facebook relationship status changes. People from high school have the ability to easily tell who is the low-life that never got married, and has the job as a garbage man.
It made me think in terms of tweets.
This was a term used by my friend, and it couldn't be more accurate. I'm always thinking about what my next tweet will be – what is something funny I can say that will make my favorites go up? I do things so that I can take a picture of it and post it to Instagram. I go to parties and put a video on SnapChat so that my friends know I'm having a good time. When a loved one dies, we eventually post a picture to Instagram of Facebook. I'm sure your grandma could care less if she makes it on your Instagram post. But we crave this attention so much, that we still post these photos to get likes and comments from people who have never even met our grandmas.
I became addicted.
The bottom line is that I am addicted. Social media has complete control over my life. It can control my mood, my confidence and my time. I'm constantly thinking of the next best thing to tweet or Instagram. I'm even continuously thinking about these articles, and what I should write about next so that I can get the most shares?
I hate social media, I hate the crave for fame and the obsession we all have with it. But will I ever give it up? No, because social media is our generation. It is invitations to parties, updates on sorority functions and the easiest way to keep your friends forever. It has become a way of making me feel good about myself, and I'm honestly scared to lose that.
For a long time I ignored this huge impact social media has on me, as I'm sure many of you are doing as you read this. But I want you to take a moment and think about our parents. This about how much more of an impact social media has had on us than it had on them. Now think about our future kids. What's going to happen to them? Social media is only growing and destroying more and more lives whether we realize it or not. I'm not going to sit here and tell you to delete all of your accounts, because I won't be doing that anytime soon. I'm asking you to admit to yourself what it has done to you, because sometimes even having the realization can make a change.
