“Judging by informal observation, most young Americans burn up their spare time buffing their emotional IQ and self-esteem with social media and non-stop texting. That’s great for eye-thumb coordination, but what about the satisfaction of actually making something?”

This was said by Seth Shostak, astronomer, and Director of the SETI Institute. While many would argue against Seth Shostak’s argument, he is valid in the sense that the human lifestyle has completely altered in the past twenty years. Much of this evolution is due to technological advancements, one of which being social media.

There are many blatant downfalls to the abuse of social media, one of which is the inauthentic portrayal of emotions. While it may be easy to compliment someone over text or social media, a lot of what is meant to be nice is ingenuine, creating an inaccurate portrayal of the person.

Alongside the misleading expression of emotions, positive or negative, we lose our sense of conversational skills, while hiding behind the screen. The matter of fact is that today’s society is getting to the point where often times, dual personalities of a person are rarely portrayed face to face versus over social media. It is not irrational to say that there are many people out there, not only teenagers, that will openly admit that when hiding behind the screen, they often have the confidence to say and do things that they would never have the nerve or conversational skills to say otherwise.

In addition to the development of poor conversational skills, technology is often used as a social clutch, even with family and friends. A table of friends all gathered around with their eyes glued to their phone is not an uncommon occurrence in today’s time. Even when teens are out with friends, they seem to be more indulged in a virtual conversation rather than the real live conversation going on right in front of them.

While social media can be used to boost one’s self esteem, often a person can depict himself or herself in a deceitful and artificial way. Editing often makes it easy for one to highlight his or her best features while erasing their flaws. Social Media has the ability to make one’s ordinary life seem like a luxury or fantasy to others, all within the power of a filter. Through status updates and uploaded photos, creating a lifestyle that appears “too good to be true” isn’t exactly difficult to do.

While technology can be a helpful tool to better one’s education, social media has created a virtual world of distractions, often making homework time a nightmare. Many students will admit that their addiction to the virtual world has taken a toll on their grades. While these distractions are not harmful when people can afford leisure time, time spent online often cuts into time that would better be spent studying or spending time with family and friends.
While a fine balance of social media is totally acceptable, and often encouraged in today’s world, it can become dangerous when time for social media is prioritized over school work, sporting obligations, and time spent with family and friends.