Lifestyle

The Importance of Positivity in Social Media

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Social Media has made our generation go from phone calls to text messages, commenting on an Instagram rather than telling our friends “you’re so pretty” to their faces, causing endless issues for our society. Although advancements in technology and social media have made us an advanced generation, they have also taken image representation to the next level, leaving a negative effect on millennials.

Statistics show that 88% of teenagers have been bullied on social media, or have been a whiteness to someone else being bullied on social media. Another 15% of teenagers say that they were personally victimized on social media by other teenagers. Instagram, Snap Chat, Facebook, and Twitter are all amazing tools, that have even created numerous jobs for people, and have provided people with passions, but have also been used to the extreme with bullying.

Social media also shows how people want to be viewed, which is most likely not how they actually are. A prime example of this is when couples continuously post “I love you” Instagram’s, and then break-up in a dramatic way. This causes people to say “I thought they were so happy.” Why did people think this? People thought this because on social media this couple seemed picture perfect, but that was just the image that they wanted to portray. Social media allows people to show a false image, and allows users to edit themselves and the image they portray. Recent student from University of California at Santa Barbra who graduated with a Communications degree, Makenzie Hogbin says, “While social media is a fun and great way to stay in contact with friends, it can be detrimental. Everyone is portraying their best selves, so it becomes very easy to compare yourself to the social media version of someone else. I think it’s important to remember that what is portrayed on social media is only certain parts of a person’s life and that no one’s life is as consistently pretty as their Instagram feed.”

It is also for people to grow insecure when social media is present, because a lot of the people are out there portraying their beauty are using a million different filters. About 20% of people update their social media at least once a day, meaning that people may think it is crucial to keep people updated on what they are doing. Graduate student Sarah Cutkomp who is getting her Masters of Teaching at UCI says, “I want my future students to be the generation who makes social media more positive. I think that social media is a great tool and has taken education to the next level, but the negative effects have been something that I think about every day. I know I need to teach my students to be kind on social media, and I want them to be aware of online bullying, and how to handle if if they are ever a victim.”

Social media is something that we’ve all been taught about in school, and comparing yourself on social media and bring yourself down about it, is something that most people go through. In the end, it is important to remember that was is portrayed on social media, is only one side of a intricate story.

"When asked, 'How do you write?' I invariably answer, 'one word at a time.'"-Stephen King

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