Social Media has influenced our lives a lot in these recent years—especially since quarantine started and we didn’t have any other choice for entertainment. But is social media influencing our lives for the better…or the worst? Today we’re going to look into the pros and cons of the digital world and how it impacts our daily lives and routines. First, let’s go into the benefits of social media.

1. We have a form of entertainment.

With the pandemic happening and all of us being quarantined in our homes, we have no way to entertain ourselves. Through social media apps like Instagram and Tiktok, we have a way to look at what other people post and post things ourselves. By using these apps, we have a way to distract ourselves from what’s happening in our lives and maybe even have a good laugh.

1. We have a way to communicate with family and friends.

During this time with the coronavirus, we have no other way to communicate with our friends and family other than using our phones. In fact, many of us use apps like these to message our friends and many families use Zoom to communicate with their relatives and see how they’re doing. Many of us need to interact with others in order to “stay sane” and during quarantine, social media is really the only way to do that.

1. We’re able to do our homework and assignments

Many of us are doing online school right now and everything is done using technology. We may not use social media to do our homework, but through apps like Snapchat, we can message our friends and ask them for help on homework or if they understand an assignment. Sometimes we really just need reassurance and to know that we’re doing the assignment correctly without having to constantly email teachers and feel like we’re bothering them.

Those are some of the ways that social media can positively influence our lives. I think we can argue that social media is actually doing us good, however, there are always two sides to a story. So now, let’s look into how social media can negatively influence our lives.

1. It can make us detached from the real world.

You may have noticed that sometimes when you’re on your phone, you kind of “zone out” to what is happening around you. Or maybe you seem to spend the whole day in your room, just on social media, and you really only go out to get food or go to the bathroom. Studies show that the brain needs to have human interaction in order to grow how it’s supposed to. And when you’re really focused on social media, it’s kind of hard to do that.

1. It can affect our mental health.

It’s out of our power to predict or even filter what we’re going to be exposed to on social media and sometimes it can affect our mental health. It’s important to take a social media cleanse every once in a while to remove any bad or negative influences that social media may have on you. It’s hard the first few days but after a while, you start to enjoy life without a phone and you’ll feel better. Personally, I recommend a month-long cleanse.

1. It can distract us from the things that we need to focus on.

Let’s admit it,  we’ve all had an experience when we were doing a homework assignment, and then got bored and decide to look up some random thing like a dog playing the kazoo. It has happened to the better of us. However, it’s important to set our priorities straight and do what we have to do(in this case schoolwork). If we get distracted too many times, we might not be able to finish a homework assignment and then our grades will go down. If your grades go down, you won’t get any credits for that semester and you won’t be able to graduate. It is extremely important to not let social media get a hold of you.

In conclusion, social media has many benefits that can help us in many different ways, but it also has a lot of negative effects that can completely ruin our lives. So, it’s important to know when to stop and give yourself boundaries and limits to how much social media usage you should have in a day. In the long run, this will help you a lot and you’ll be ultimately happy with your decision.