Over the semester, through my inquiry on “how does social media affect society?”, I learned that social media is essentially a megaphone for humanity’s ways. Social media is not inherently bad, at least it doesn’t have to be. I’ve learned that how social media is being used right now is not a good way. There are parts of it that are great like body positivity, getting news out fast, bringing communities together, and acting as a creative platform. But inside all of the positives, there are some severe negatives; cyberbullying, spreading of fake news, photo editing causing unrealistic body standards, comparison of “the highlight real”, it being a drive for young people to grow up to fast. Overall, I come away feeling like we need to learn how to use social media. We as a human race never learned how to. By becoming more educated on how to use social media as a positive platform that can create real change, it will once again return to a place of peace and harmony.

A different avenue that I looked into was the addictive side of social media. There is no denying that it is extremely addictive, and we have grown to not see a problem in that. Now, I don’t think that cutting it out of our lives is probable, but maybe becoming more aware of how much we use it could be a place to start. I think this is especially true for young people. Limiting how much time you have the world showing you what you should be doing or looking like is greatly beneficial to your mental health.

So my advice to you is, limit your time on social media, edit who you follow and who follows you to create a space that you feel supported and inspired, be cognizant of how you comment and interact with social media to make sure it is kind, and finally, remember that social media is a highlight real and that you are never getting a person’s real life. By doing all of these things, you can begin to cultivate a more positive and healthy social media experience. And there is nothing wrong with that.