Back in my day we didn’t have social media.

I am sure every kid in the twenty first century has heard this lines used by his or her parents at least once. The question everyone is asking is whether or not social media is a bad thing for kids to have at such a young age.

Social media contributes to good things in the world but seems as if most of the stuff you see is always bad. The way social media flips stories and changes the way certain people are portrayed is almost evil. With the days of Twitter and Instagram and Facebook it leads a lot of people to wonder. Is social media evil?

Some studies have linked prolonged social media and mobile phone use with symptoms of depression, anxiety and low self-esteem, others suggest it can also provide significant benefits. There is no surprise that social media and cell phone use can cause anxiety and depression because out there online people look at what others do and what they look like.

When we see something online that we wish we could do or we wish we were at that party with all of our friends it makes us more likely to be depressed. People look at others online through pictures and wish they were them. As teenagers and even adults we judge our insides based on someone’s outside and we will lose that battle ninety percent of the time. So when people are scrolling through social media and see the picture of someone they wish they could be they judge the person they are on the inside for the person on the picture and their appearance not what they may be going through as well.

Seeing all the negatives on social media sometimes will really make you look for the positives. There are positives everywhere within social media. Go fund me pages for people who maybe are struggling with an illness or were totally wiped out of their home. Good things can even be seen in just happy birthday tweets given out to people from friends with cool pictures of them over the years. Social Media is not bad thing, it becomes bad with the way you use it. More goods of social media would be that is can build relationships with friends and family. It also gives out opportunities for businesses. You can always see ads for Business and how they want you to visit their online site and try to coax you into buying something off of their site.

More negatives that can be seen within social media are that in some ways people become addicted. Whenever you are out in public in a restaurant take a look around and see how many people are on their phones. Everyone needs to make sure he or she is updated on the latest social media pictures, videos and trends. Our whole lives as teenagers have been revolved around social media. Other negative aspects of it is that people can isolate themselves. Overuse of social media that comes from addiction is that people will isolate themselves out in public to make sure they are getting out the latest snapchat and tweet. It seems as if people would rather snapchat or text someone that is standing right next to them instead of saying something in person. It has killed human communication skills. Another negative is it hinders productivity. In school and in jobs I think we all can relate to one time or another where we looked at our snapchat or twitter to see what was going on. And if not during school or work we make sure to check it the second we are released for the day.

Overall the use of social media seems to almost have a negative effect more than a positive effect. With all the problems it can cause with people it really doesn’t make sense why so many people use it. Bullyingstatistic.org says that 25% of adolescents and teens have been bullied through their cell phones. Over 80% of teens use a cell phone regular, so no wonder such a high percentage of kids are getting bullied. the problem within is that only 1 out of 10 kids will tell a trusted adult about being cyber bullied claims Bullyingstatistics.org. According to https://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/how-much-time-do-people-spend-social-media-infographic kids spend nine hours a day on social platforms. This is the problem that a lot of people see with social media is it takes up so much time and will create negative effects for teens and adults everywhere.