Let me start by saying, there are many people out there who are anti-social media.

Let me follow by saying, I know this because they post about it on social media all the time.

Many people are accustomed to the world of endless texting, photographing, and tweeting right at their fingertips (the joys of a smart phone). Our society has shifted to rely on these phones so much that games like “phone stack” were forced to come into existence.

I’m all for putting your phone down to have a real conversation. More often than not though, people bash things like Facebook or Instagram. I understand that maybe you don’t agree with a technological platform to help users create their identity, but it’s time someone says it.

I love social media.

Social media has so many benefits for our generation, and I think so many people fail to recognize that.

The other day I was watching a Ted Talk, and it was about how people protest through Twitter now instead of in physical form nowadays. That’s an incredible thing! How easy is it for us to state our opinions by the click of a button, and in that gentle way sway the masses?

Social media inspires creativity on an entirely different level. Not only that, social media inspires a type of creativity that personifies you, because after all, you’re the creator.

Sad but true—how easy is it to keep in touch with your second cousins in the Midwest thanks to Facebook. Social media creates a place where you can contact people distant from your life in a non-threatening manner.

My favorite part of social media isn’t what it is necessarily, but what it’s becoming. In high school, I wanted a Facebook to essentially broadcast myself to others. Now, social media is so much more than that. Social media is starting to become an industry to promote companies. Because individuals that you know, respect, and “stalk” promote certain companies, social media could easily be the best form of advertisement that the world has seen.

Someone asked me last week what my dream job was. When working with social media came up, they asked why I wanted to take part in something so surface-level.

In today’s culture, social media is constantly hated on, but it’s changing the world around us. It is one of the most authentic things when we use it correctly, and unquestionably the defining feature of our generation.