Map of Facebook Headquarters

       This is a map of Facebook's headquarters. It is located in Menlo Park, California. I found this to be interesting towards this blog to understand and see where Facebook originated and came into existence. Facebook is a very popular social media platform that is used by a wide range of people of all different ages. I use Facebook to stay connected with my friends and family, but it is used by many people for many different things. This was very interesting to learn that Facebook originated in California, where the Silicon Valley is located.

What Is The Point of Social Media?

        Have you ever thoroughly thought about why we are so consumed with social media? Why are we using it and what are we doing? I have thought about it myself, along with asking multiple of my friends and the answers seemed to be relatively similar. I use social media to update my friends and family with whats going on in my life. The uses vary between social media platforms in my case however. I use Facebook to share a bundle of pictures every so often so my distant family can keep up with me. Also, I like Facebook because it is the social media site that many of my older relatives are using, so I can keep up with them as well as my distant cousins. For Twitter, I use this site to tweet every so often, and post various pictures. Twitter is my favorite platform to use to be amused. There are seriously so many funny and relatable tweets out there. I use Instagram to post pictures and view my friends' pictures as well. I have mentioned in prior posts that Instagram is my favorite social media platform because it is the easiest site to waste time and "creep." There I said it. I know I am not the only one who looks at everyone's pictures and connect them with someone else I know, and then look at their pictures. Social media is so vast nowadays, what is your favorite / what do you use it for?

Social Media Extremely Impacts Youth

        When thinking of social media, it is common to link it to teenagers or young adults, but social media is in fact also strongly impacts the youth of our society. Think about when you see a mother and her child in a cart at the grocery store, in order to keep that child distracted and "not bored" during grocery shopping, the mother commonly give the child a tablet or her phone to play with for the time being. With this, the child is exposed to potentially explicit content. The mother is distracted with grocery shopping, and she is not monitoring what her child is doing on her phone. The youth of our society is growing up in a very technologically savvy world. Replacing face-to-face conversation with texting and group chatting is ruining our people skills. If we do not steer the youth of today's society away from social media addictions, we could have a serious issue coming in the future.

Social Media Does More

     It is commonly thought of that social media platforms do only one thing; connect people. This is very accurate, but social media does so much more than that. Social media platforms offers a place for people to express their individuality. Each person on the Web has their own personal profile to do with it as they wish. Express opinion, post pictures, and keep up with friends and family. For example, Instagram is completely individualized. Each person on Instagram has control over which pictures to post and what message to convey. Twitter, on the other hand offers a platform for people to express their opinion, like what they want, and also convey a message personalized by themselves. Many social media platforms offer a space of individuality and that is just another benefit of social media in today's society.

Social Media - Individuality

Favorite Social Media Sites

       As a 20 year-old growing up in today's society, I have been exposed to many forms of social media. My favorite social media platform that I use on the daily would have to be Instagram. This is a media site that allows you to post, search, and see other people's pictures from all over the world. It is my favorite because not only do you get to share with your friends what you are doing, but you can show it with a picture too. I know that this is a very widely used media site by the public. I asked many of my friends, including my roommates and Instagram was their favorite too. This is my favorite media site of all the ones out there right now, what is yours?

http://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/08/14/17/how-instagram-posts-can-help-spot-depression 

Social Media is Detrimental

      On the contrary to social media being a benefit to today's society, it can also be viewed as being a burden on our society. I know people in my life who HATE social media. They view it as a waste of time, space, and money. Social media can be used and also abused. Some users of social media are using it for all the wrong reasons.
     Social media is a birthplace of online bullying. I know that this can be argued, but I see this as a major concern for parents of young children in today's age. There are kids who are hiding behind their computer screens and saying terrible things to other people online. The online world is a place where they do not have to see the face of the person who they are hurting, that's why social media can be a place of negativity to some.
     Social media is replacing face to face interaction and wiping children of their conversational skills. Young teenagers and children are so consumed with technology and social media, that I believe they are losing all skills on how to hold a conversation without checking for new notifications. It is disgusting to me in fact. I see social media as a benefit to our society, but not when it is used and abused like it is occasionally.

Social Media Affects Mental Health

Social Media is Beneficial

        There are many opinions on various social media outlets, but I believe that it can be very beneficial in many ways.

1. Social media keeps people connected.

Family and friends all across the universe find ways to stay connected to one another. My mother's best friend from high school lives in Chicago and Facebook is their way of keeping up to date on what's going on in their lives. 

"Facebook is viewed as the "site for old people" but I just view it as a way to see what my family and friends are up to," - Anne Yoder commenting on her views on social media.

2. Social media keeps people in the know.

Social media is a mainstream way of how people receive their news nowadays. I know that I don't sit down every night and watch the news with my friends, and I can assume not too many people my age do either. So, social media is a replacement for this. The latest news can be found at a few key strokes.

3. Social media gives people individuality.

There are many personal profiles out there on various social media platforms that give people their sense of individuality. People find their online space as a place to be themselves, voice their opinion, and also have their own profiles to do with as they wish.

I know social media has positively impacted my life, and I see it as a benefit to our world.