Every day, many people are glued to their phones. You might even be one of these people, constantly going through the most recent social media and refreshing your feed every ten seconds to maybe find a new post. Hours and hours of our lives are wasted as we are bombarded by the latest trend across the internet or newest app everyone is crazy about. We actually happen to spend almost nine hours a DAY on social media, that’s more time than most of us get to sleep every night. (Technology-taking-lives) In other words, social media is taking over the world.

Social Media was mainly created for communication. For example, when Facebook first came out, its main purpose was to help people communicate over the phone or computer. However, Facebook is now a place to post just about anything, from what TV show you are currently watching or just to post funny memes and videos on your page. Usually people and students would just be “friends” with people that they actually knew but now people can also be “friends” with anyone they want (even people they don’t know), all with a click of a button. Many young adults will build up their page just to make them seem more likable online. Not only this, but some will only post constant pictures of themselves. Many of these habits slowly start to grow on people, giving them hints of narcissistic traits.

This is only the start to the downsides of current social media. Something that social media has been a major cause of is cyber bullying. When you are online, you can be anyone you want to be, you may also post whatever you want. Since you aren’t face to face with the person, you can easily target whoever you want without having to face the consequence of actually having to be with that person. Hundreds of teenagers and even adults get sucked into this social media tangle. These social media attacks by teens can even drive some victims to self harm or suicide. Some people even claim to be one person, but in reality they are lying to you about their identity the whole time: this is often referred as someone being a “catfish.”  This is just one other effect of social media.

Social media is now considered an addiction to people across the world. Nowadays, you don’t see a teenager without a cell phone. This goes even beyond teenagers; younger children are now receiving iPads and tablets for Christmas. We have gotten so used to having our cell phones that we do not even realize how harmful it may be. These effects are only going to continue though, as the newest technology is always being created and everyone wants the new and improved these days.