Social media is what lets us share all the things we’re doing in a virtual community full of friends and strangers. People all over the world use social media. It helps the world stay connected and enables us to keep up with the fast world in which we live.
Having Kylie Jenner like your Instagram post for once or getting retweeted by one of your favorite eye-candy celebrities, may be something you dream of happening.
For most of our generation, you’re probably more likely to check how many likes you received on a picture than checking your email in the morning because, let’s be real, email is where all your teachers contact you about that dreaded test on Monday.
And don’t forget to look at what all your friends did last night on Snapchat or you’ll be out of the loop for the next couple of days. Even if your friends didn’t have that much fun, I’m sure they got a video of themselves chugging a beer or taking synchronized shots to make it look like an awesome time.
With all of the things social media lets you do, such as knowing who is nearby and being able to see who people talk to, it’s starting to affect us.
If you go to an expensive restaurant and don’t take a picture of your delicious meal, did you actually go? If your best friend doesn’t post a picture of both of you from a party last night, are you actually her best friend?
I recently attended a concert at a nearby venue, and I happened to leave my phone at home on accident that day. Without a story of the concert on my Snapchat or pictures of me and my best friends, it was like I never went. Some of my friends at school didn’t even believe that I went.I had the time of my life. But to the social media world, it never happened.
Our place on the social ladder depends on how we display ourselves in the virtual world.
Have you ever had that awkward moment when someone in your 8 a.m. class follows you on Instagram and it takes you a couple of days to figure out who it actually is because they look nothing like their pictures?
Social media lets us be pretty much anything we want to be, even a celebrity blogger like those skinny teen boys with hair covering their face that you drooled over on Tumblr in middle school.
A good indicator that smartphones are a problem is when you get a syllabus for a class and your teacher has to write in bold that cell phones are not allowed. It should be common courtesy to be able to put your phone away, but some kids hold on to them as if it’s their life support plug.
Social media has us acting like crazy people. We’ll do pretty much anything it tells us to, and no one seems to realize what’s occurring.
It can start a fight or end a relationship in a matter of minutes. Girls are going crazy stalking their boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend’s Twitter favorites, just in case.
It’s making people forget how to act in real life social settings and how to simply converse with someone without having your phone be the main priority.
A conversation isn’t a face-to-face thing anymore, and I know some people who don’t even answer phones anymore because texting has become the main form of communication.
Social media is a virtual drug: It takes up hours of our time, distracts students from work, and we suffer from withdrawal without it. It’s clear that we’re all addicted and need some help. Stuck in a daze, we can’t get out of this virtual world we have created.
Email Katelyn LaPorte at katelyn.laporte@cardinalpointsonline.com
