Social media brings millions, if not billions of people together. We send text messages, post pictures and connect through the internet, a concept not even considered possible 20 years ago. We can connect with family members and friends, that live far away from us, go to meetings and explore different avenues of online education. The advantages of social media are many, but so are the drawbacks. It has created problems for us as a society in general. The most prominent of the problems that has been created is a gap in ourselves as human beings.

You might be asking how can there be a gap created within ourselves, we are always connected! That’s one of the problems,the over sharing of information. People are constantly wanting the latest updates on events far away from their home, or away from school, they lose themselves in technology. We are constantly broadcasting our thoughts to our peers through text messages. As Sherry Turkle elegantly put it, “and yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection.” What does this mean, how could it be true? Instead of reaching for our phones at moments of silence or inactivity, we should reflect on our thoughts before sending them out. Look around and make notes of what you see. Adults on their phones, teenagers texting under tables as they sit in class. So what, you think, it’s just how it is now. But is that a good thing?I understand if you use twitter, or tumblr, as a way of letting your voice be heard when you are shy or have social anxiety , as it allows you to express your viewpoints in a way that is comfortable and non-threatening. It can keep them in a calm state of mind as they participate in classroom discussions. But, for others that use it as a tool of distraction in school or the workplace as it can change the pace and allow them to escape boring and monotonous tasks. It’s changing the way we act around people, in the real world as well as online. We create new personalities for ourselves, painting us in the best light. “I’ve learned that the little devices most of us carry around are so powerful that they not only change what we do, but who we are.” Turkle stated in her Ted talk. While others might say that this encourages a cool down time or gives us a way to present our cases in a collected and calm manner, it does have its downfalls. When we meet face to face, we can not automatically control our emotions, or delete what we want to say. We need to learn that having a cool down period is not always in our best interest.

Our language is constantly evolving with each new generation as they create new words, ways to use punctuation describe  what it means in writing or conversations. Language evolving on it’s own, in itself, is not a bad thing as it allows us to see how far we’ve come from Shakespeare’s time to our own. But that does not always mean a step forward. Some teachers are voicing their concerns, saying social media has started to chip away at the foundation of students’ essay writing skills. “College professors are seeing LOL-speak, fractured grammar, informal acronyms and emoticons crop into college essays.” Michael Burton has also seen the change, as he stated in this quote. College students are suffering as an effect from the constant connection to social media. In another survey, conducted by PEW Research Center, “nearly two thirds of all teens use some informal styles from text based communications,” in  assignments, such as papers, in school. Some will bring up the side that students of this generation are better at summarizing paragraphs. Summarizing is a useful tool when used sparingly, but all the time is unacceptable.   While the blame is not to be placed entirely on the student body at large, it still needs to be addressed and dealt with immediately. Students of all ages should be able to switch from text lingo, to school writing at the appropriate times. 

The Millennials, are what this generation is called. We are constantly talking with friends, keeping in touch with family and other things. Social media has created a way for us to enjoy the luxuries of all of this, without truly experiencing it. It is wonderful, but also dangerous to the  health of those who use it. “Children are growing up now in a world where they expect immediate response, gratifaction and notification.” Sreedhar Potarazu wisely put. Another startling fact, some kids check their social media 100 times a day. This shows how obsessed and attached they have grown to their phones. Facebook has also played a part in affecting our mental health. “Young adults with a strong Facebook presence were more likely to exhibit narcissistic antisocial behavior.” Mariel Norton wrote, surprising many. How can this be? It seems the more time teens and young adults spend on sites, such as a Facebook, the more it seems that they feel the world revolves around them and their problems. This can create large gaps in strong friendships, and even cost someone a job or the connection of those they so desperately wanted to be noticed by in the first place.

To sum this up, social media has caused many problems for the us as a generation and a society.  But not all hope is lost. We can change and make social media great once again. We can start by first moderating use, and spell checking ourselves. This will create a better and more challenging place for future generations to use. It will allow them to look back and see how we changed the tides in a positive way, allowing them to grow closer together.