Can you remember a time when there was no Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram? I sure can, however by now that time seems like light years away. I remember when kids or teens would get bored then they would play games outside with their neighbors or find other fun actitivies to do. Those days all seemed to come to a halt once the grand carpet for social media rolled out. For me it started with Myspace and then developed on to Facebook, Twitter and then Instagram. Each site is more popular based on who you are following. The rules are simple, that you should have more followers than people you actually follow or for that matter even know. These social sites can cause many problems in a adolescent’s life such as the inability to build self esteem. If your always comparing yourself to someone on a website that you think looks better than you or has more material items than you possess than how will you realize your own self worth. Another issue with the social media is that it effects interpersonal relationships. Now this problem is sort of cut with a double edged sword. Meaning that it can be both good and bad. The good meaning that it can effect relationships because it can connect you with a great contact for gaining a job or reunite you with a long lost friend or family member. The bad role that social media plays with effecting relationships is that it can cause rifts in friendships or even breakups between girlfriends/boyfriends and even spouses. So the question to ask yourself next time your logged on to your social media outlet is will what I see on this site make me upset in any type of way? And will what I am posting have any type of impact on my life outside of the internet based world?

Author: Kendra Talley