People spend hours a day on apps like Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., and these forms of social media have become an integral part of people’s everyday lives. But the debate still stands: Is all the time spent on social media good for a person’s well-being?

RANTS

One of the downsides to social media is the annoyance and distractions to the user. Avid social media users receive countless notifications from all platforms. For example, Instagram alerts users for each individual ‘like’ a post gets, and other social media websites are similar. While there are usually ways for the user to limit these or turn them off, most choose not to because of their FOMO (fear of missing out). This causes people to be to distracted by their online presence and it takes away attention on the real world. When people have FOMO about social media they end up actually missing out on things happening right in front of them!

While using social media as one source for news and current events can be beneficial, some people have started to rely solely on social media to keep them informed. Now, more than ever, fake news has become a big problem in the country and social media is one of the biggest culprits. Absolutely anyone can tweet about anything, say anything in a snapchat rant, or post anything on Instagram, which means if people don’t fact check what they hear on these sites, fake news can be spread quickly.

Lastly, a major problem caused by social media FOMO is the pressure to have a presence on social media. People that use social media frequently place to much emphasis on the impact of it and start to do certain activities just so that they have something to post about on Facebook, or something interesting to put on their Snapchat story. People want everyone else to see how “cool” their life is, so sometimes they lead a fake life on social media.

RAVES

One of the best things about social media is that is lets people connect to others quickly. Whether it be Snap chatting your best friend, or viewing the Instagram post of a family member who lives far away, you can always count on social media to keep you connected to the people you care about most. It can also connect you to people you may not know. People can read tweets from important people like world leaders, or watch a favorite celebrity live stream their walk on the red carpet on Instagram. These luxuries of connecting with people who otherwise may be hard to keep in contact with is an advantage of social media.

Another great thing about social media is that you can know about events happening anywhere around the world in an instant. If something tragic happens in different continent, you could see thousands of tweets about it seconds later, and already be donating on GoFundMe to help people out who need it. In the times before social media, if something major happened in the news, people would’ve had to wait until the next morning to hear it on the morning news, or even several days later if they waited to hear from the newspaper. Thankfully, social media has improved the world by helping to inform people quickly about anything they might want to know.

The greatest thing about social media is that it’s FUN!! Watching a friend’s funny snap story is always a great pastime; it may not be the most productive, but it sure can make us happy. Additionally, everyone enjoys a good meme once in a while, and social media makes it easy to share them quickly with friends. Selecting the perfect filter for your Instagram picture or just browsing Pinterest to spark your creativity are fun activities when you have nothing else to do.