Social Media

Kaitlyn Dugan

It has become a part of the daily routine for most people . . . wake up, check the social media, go to work, return home, and yet again check social media periodically until returning to bed.  Social media has become so popular that it has started to become the root of trouble.  Instead of going outside, enjoying the fresh air, rolling around in the crisp grass, or enjoying the company of long lasting friendships many people stay inside with the stale air, on their computers or phones, and seek entertainment through social media.

Social media has caused many troubles, the biggest: laziness and bullying.  A number of users intertwine social media into their daily lives so much that they become increasingly addicted.  This addiction has produced so much laziness that a trend increase in obesity is being experienced more now than ever.  People no longer go out and socialize with new people. Instead, they socialize online with long established friends.  These users no longer use correct, beautiful, detailed, flowing grammar instead they have reduced their words to abbreviations and their sentences to made-up, artificial words.  This addiction has also caused trouble at work.  Logging onto or using social media while on company time or property is strictly prohibited for most companies.  Disobeying this strict rule in some cases may involve punishment or even cost them their job.  For some people this rule is hard to obey causing much harm to their career.  The temptation to log onto social media is simply to powerful for many to resist.  We need to control the amount of time we use social media so that we are getting more physical exercise and preventing an addiction.

Social media has also become the hub for bullying.  It has connected so many people to one another; constant status updates are shared with a web of people every day.  Social media is made so convenient for users; it simply takes one click for something to be posted.  With this simplicity users are able to post rude statement or pictures about one another to either vent or hurt one another. The simplicity of social media in consequence has made cyber bullying so easy and convenient. There have been a number of cases where cyber bullying was the foundation for a person’s suicide or low self-esteem.  It is easier to crush someone’s feelings behind a keyboard rather than in front of someone’s face.  When logging onto these entertaining websites, we need to think about the consequences of the things we do.  We can either “build people up” or “break people down”.  Social media can be used to do such bad, but it can also be used to do such good.  Think before you post!