If I were to ask you, "how much social media do you use in a week?", what would you say?
Personally, I love staying connected with friends, checking the news on my phone, and scrolling through Instagram and Snapchat. Social media is very entertaining for me. This past week I conducted a study on how much I check my phone/laptop. The results were that I use social media about four to five hours a day. Originally this number sounded like a lot to me. After some researching, I realized that many people use more social media than I do.
According to the Pew Research Center, there was a study conducted in 2018 on social media usage and the results showed that "half of social media users ages 18 to 24 (51%) say it would be hard to give up social media, but just one-third of users ages 50 and older feel similarly."
This is the era of technology, so it is fitting that many of us are addicted to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I believe that this topic must be addressed because of the way our society has changed drastically due to social media. I found that I use social media four to five hours a day. We have 24 hours in a day and these are hours I will never get back, but I don't regret it.
People may generalize social media to be a bad thing. This is not always the case, due to many news outlets being on your social media (ex: Facebook). Staying aware of what is going on around you is very important.
For example, there was a recent assault that occurred in Barto Hall at my college (Central Washington University). I do not live in a dorm, so this news would not have reached me in time if I did not use Facebook. I was able to contact my friends who live in that dorm to check if they were alright. Social media has helped me more than it has hurt me.
According to the Pew Research Center, "74% of Facebook users say they visit the site daily, with around half (51%) saying they do several times a day." I believe that I visit Facebook more than any other social media site because all my friends and family post there. Snapchat and Instagram are second and third on my list. I use Snapchat instead of texting and Instagram when I am bored. Many of my friends feel differently. My friend Lauren uses Snapchat and Instagram more than Facebook.
Social media has impacted my life for the better because of the knowledge I have gained from it. I believe that I could use social media less, but I don't see it as a problem. I am not addicted to social media. I reflected on my social media usage this week and found no problems with how I used it or how much time I spent on it.
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