The Ups & Downs of Social Media

Myspace. Facebook. Twitter. The world of social media is constantly expanding and changing. Like everything, it has its good parts and its bad. People are able to reconnect with old friends they haven’t seen in years or keep up with extended family. For me, that’s about all it’s good for. For others, it serves as a staple in their life; everything they do or see is posted to it. The negative side to this aspect of social media is FOMO — fear of missing out. Most of the time, you don’t post the negative things happening in your life but only the wonderful, fabulous things. Other people see this and start to feel bad about their own life, and FOMO starts to occur particularly in younger teens. However, there are also people who use a Twitter status or Facebook post as if it were their own personal diary. They air all of their dirty laundry out for the world to see. Social media allows you to share thoughts and the click of a button which can be a problem when people become too dependent, but it can also be used to promote a lot of great causes; one example is the March for Science that happened in Washington D.C.. Through twitter, you could connect with the events if you weren’t able to attend, you could find a smaller local march to go to, or you could use it to let others know that it’s going on. When used in a smart manner, social media is a powerful tool that makes the world just a little bit smaller.