Social Media

            In the past decade, a multibillion-dollar industry has sprung up. It has hundreds of millions subscribers, and it seeks to connect people with friends all over the world. Not only that, but it has also become one of our primary sources of news and entertainment. Of course, I’m talking about social media sites like Facebook and Twitter that have revolutionized how we spend our time on the Internet.

In class, we took a poll on how many hours a day we spent on social media sites. I answered one hour as I’m only on for a few minutes at a time, but I heard numbers as high as six hours a day from several people. Not only has social media had an impact on the way we spend our time, but also on the way we conduct ourselves. On area in particular that I can think of is in the realm of dating. A good example of this is a term that has become popular over the last few years, “Facebook Official” or “FBO.” This term is used to describe someone changing his or her relationship status on Facebook from “Single” to “In a Relationship” while dating someone. I have heard plenty of teenagers say that a relationship is not actually binding until a couple becomes Facebook Official. When couples meet on a social media site as opposed to a physical place like work or church, there is a common reoccurrence where the couple is able to communicate easily over social media but struggles to find something to talk about in person, leading to a rather awkward encounter. Another oddity related to social media is the double life people live on their social media accounts and in their actual daily life. One thing I can personally vouch for is the trend of having thousands of friends on Facebook, but only a handful of friends in real life.  On the social media site Instagram, a popular trend is to only post pictures that seem interesting and exciting, giving the illusion that your life is incredibly exciting based on the pictures you post. I could go on and on about the effects of social media on our daily lives, but the point is that social media has impacted particularly young users a great deal and shows no sign of releasing its grip on our lives.