Social Media and it's Impact

When I was in high school, Instagram was just becoming a thing, and Twitter was the most popular site among students. When I first made an Instagram account, I would post the most random pictures and the amount of likes that I would receive never crossed my mind. It wasn’t until Instagram became mainstream and millions of people started to download the app, that I started to notice the attention I would receive on my posts, and that the more likes or comments, resulted in more endorphins and more “happiness”. I put quotes around the happiness because it seems so silly that a virtual action can change someones mood, but when you are an insecure high school student, and comparing yourself to everyone else, the difference a few likes could make was alarming. 

This seeking of social media attention is now seen on all platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest etc) and it is sometimes obvious that people will post certain things just to get that attention. I truly think that a lot of fake news is spread because of this desire for attention. 

While social media has connected us in a way that was unfathomable a few decades ago, it has also made it harder for people to gain multiple perspectives. Before social media, you could read the news paper and see different stories about different events and you would formulate your opinion and perhaps chat with the people closest to you about that opinion. Now our social media sites can learn about what type of posts you are most likely to view, and will only show you those certain posts, this limits peoples knowledge about an issue or event. Also people can also post their opinions for the entire world to see, and no matter which side of an argument you are on, you can be at risk of a verbal attack from someone on the opposing side. 

These “verbal attacks” have escalated into much more than expressing a different opinion. People have learned that they can hide behind their computer screen and post hateful, damaging posts while getting away with it. It is common for a celebrity to have death threats and other disturbing things posted about them on their social media accounts. 

While social media poses a lot of new challenges in our society, I think it also has had an amazing impact as well. Humans of New York has become an example for humanity through social media by sharing stories of people from all over the world. This reminds us that everybody has their own story. Social media has the capability to help us learn and spread love, we just need to figure out a way to keep those goals relevant.