By: Cassidy Pate

Over the past 10 years, social media has evolved, and it is taking over more and more of our lives. Most people have at least one form of social media; I say most because some people either don’t like social media or their parents won’t let them have it. The people who don’t like social media usually don’t like it because they know how it negatively affects people, but they never really consider the positives. 

There are so many negatives when it comes to social media. On Instagram, people edit their pictures to make themselves look “perfect.” This then makes other people feel self-conscious and like they aren’t enough. It’s even worse when younger people have social media because they see these pictures that were heavily edited and think that they’re supposed to look exactly like that. The fact that the standard for looks isn’t even real is horrible, because it doesn’t make anyone feel good about themselves. When Instagram was created, people would post anything and everything on their page. It was sort of like Facebook in that way. People posted whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted because there weren’t that many people using the app at the time. People like the Kardashian’s were not as famous and didn’t use the app right away. Once celebrities started using Instagram, everyone else started using it too. 

While social media can be a very negative place, there are also multiple positives to it. Many people have found things they enjoy through social media. Some of the things people have started to enjoy because of this includes makeup, film, photography, working out, and art. People use social media to develop their own sense of style or their own way of doing things. People also make friends through social media, and those are some of the best people they will ever meet. 

For me, social media has helped and hurt me in so many different ways. It helped me create my own sense of style, learn how to do makeup, and brought so many people into my life. It hurt me by showing me unrealistic photos of people, because for a long time every single time I saw a picture that a celebrity posted I thought I had to look like them to be accepted in this world. I now realize that that isn’t true, and that I’m perfect the way I am, but I start to worry about other people like my friends who see these same pictures and feel pressured to look like that.

Once you realize that social media isn’t actually real, you form a different perspective of it. The fact that these celebrities probably only try to make themselves look perfect on these apps is because they saw someone else’s photo and felt like they needed to look like them. People forget that celebrities are people too, and that they go through the same types of problems with how they see themselves as we do.

Social media is dangerous, but also a very positive place for anyone. Yes, it can be very negative, especially when people say something when they think something about a person is fake. But, it can also be a positive place for people to go when they want to do something different with their day, like if they want to try a new workout routine, or if they want to try to do a new makeup look, or try a different style out. It’s a place we should be able to go when we’re sad or happy to make us feel good, but sometimes it just isn’t that place–and that needs to change.