What is Social Media Doing to Our Society?

 

Social media seems to have evolved and taken over the 21st century. Everywhere we go, people are “tweeting” or “instagramming,” sharing pieces of their life with their friends and followers. Social media shares information with people all around the world, keeping everyone updated about your personal life. There are many different social media websites now, ranging from public videos on Youtube to photo sharing on places like Snapchat. Social media has increased communication around the world. It’s easy enough to just a shoot a quick text or message someone on Facebook, and they could contact you from anywhere. With the pros of this new technology comes cons, and there are quite a few. It limits to face-to-face socialization and cyber bullying has become a huge issue. Keeping this in mind, we have to ask ourselves- is social media running our lives?

I think that social media can be greatly beneficial to society, but it needs limits. It can help to improve business, and is a part of many peoples’ daily life. I love going on Twitter and seeing what people have to say! That being said, it should have boundaries. Updating your status every 5 seconds is not going to help you land a job or get an A+ on your next test. I believe that everyone needs to take a step back from this revolution and see what really matters. True socialization is dying in society and by simply having a conversation with someone in person, or going out with friends, you can help to save it.

~Emma

The Brutal Honesty of Texting

“Don’t just text them, call them!” is a typical demand given by parents of children bearing cell phones. Adults can’t stand to watch their kids text, text, text and don’t talk. They don’t think those kinds of relationships are real. Studies prove differently however. A test shows that people communicate much more effectively and truthfully through texting. This came as a shock to many. You would think talking face to face would reveal much more honesty, but in reality, teenagers feel much more comfortable behind a screen, where no one can see them.

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/text-messaging.jpg

Personally, I didn’t find this surprising. I find myself to be much more truthful over the phone because it gives me more time to think before I send a message, when in person, people expect an immediate response. This could be both bad and good. When kids are honest over text, they’re brutally honest. No sugar coating. They think that when they have the chance to say whatever they want to someone without them seeing it, that they can literally say whatever they want. However, shy kids may take advantage of being honest over texting. They have more confidence when no one can see them. Overall, you need to be responsible for what you say over texting. Just because the person can’t see you, doesn’t mean you won’t hurt their feelings.

~Emily Peck