Post another picture! Tweet another tweet! Reblog another image. Social media has is tied to screen that was supposed to keep us updated. Social media has exploded over the last ten years. Now you need to a Facebook to see what every one else is doing. You always have to be comparing yourself to what everyone else is doing, how success they are, how pretty they are. Everywhere I look seem more people using it, my sister, my parents, my grandparents. I can tell you know thousands of random facts about yourself. As the artist Above says "Talk but don't actually say anything." (procon.org) Although many people believe social media is beneficial to society, it is actually creating slaves to a lifestyle obsession.


Social media does have some benefits, the economy benefits greatly from it; $900 billion to $1.3 trillion is added to the economy, it gives labor to workers and pays taxes. Social media also helps spread news quickly. 50% of people learn about Breaking News over social media social media. It also helps people become more involved on a more individual community level.


The news you get from other people isn't always true. All throughout your life people have been gossiping, telling lies; the users of social media are no different. People are spreading more information quicker but it's not always accurate, people make up whatever they want. This is harmful for it can cause mass panic when nothing has happened due to one wrong fact. Many people will just take what they hear from the internet and believe it. It happens all the time in high schools; someone will make a rumor about someone and it will spread like wildfire, using the retweets as fuel to burn the victim.


Social media is responsible for huge number security attacks. Viruses are being spread through these websites making it even easier for hackers to steal your identity. They can even use some of the basic info you put out for the public to see (ie. birthdate, high school name, phone number, etc.) to hack your other profiles.


Social media also affects students grades. A statistic shown says "Students who use social media had an average GPA of 3.0619 while non-users had an average GPA of 3.82 and students who used social networking sites while studying scored 20% lower on tests." (procon.org) Not only does it affect you outside of school, social media is being used in middle of classes distracting students. I looked around my classrooms and I see more heads looking down at their phones then looking up at the teacher.



Most importantly it's not keeping people connected,it's pulling them away. People are spending less time in the real world and more time in the virtual world. "The percentage of people who reported less face-to-face time with their family in their homes rose from 8% in 2000 to 34% in 2011.” (procon.org) Every time I do something with a friend of mine she wants to document it, she wants the whole world to know what we're doing. She's staying connected with her "friends" but in the moment it makes me question her as a person.



Believe me or not, but social media is drawing more things away from society than giving benefits. We're becoming obsessed with these websites and apps. Internet addiction is now a serious clinical problem, when is something that it cause just addiction just being openly abused and used. Turn your phone off and enjoy what's going on in the moment, there'll never be another moment like it again. Next time you go out to dinner , look around see who's really interactions and look for whose to attached to the screen to see what's actually going on.