If you have a phone or a laptop, chances are that you own several social media apps like Twitter and Facebook. Social media has been looked down upon by many blog posts, accusing them of increasing body image issues and depression. I am aware of the downsides to using social media often, but I believe the good outweighs it tremendously.
According to BBC, "40% of the world’s population, use online social media – and we’re spending an average of two hours every day sharing, liking, tweeting and updating on these platforms".
These numbers seen as a bad thing, but it doesn't describe the sentiment social media can create for someone. Personally, I use social media for various reasons. Most of my social media hours in a day are used towards staying connected to family and friends.
The main reason I started going on social media as a kid (and still do now) is to connect with friends from around the world. I grew up in the military and I was constantly moving around. This made it hard to stay connected with family and friends. The only reason I was able to maintain these friendships was through social media.
Here are some photos of my dad, mom, sister, and I above. My family shares these photos online to inform friends/family what is happening in our life. We moved around so much that I never got to meet some family members (and I never will because they passed away).
One amazing thing that social media has done was let my father contact me through his deployment overseas. He would skype call us whenever he had the chance and took photos of the bright orange and yellow toy bear I made for him wherever he traveled. He would post these pictures on Facebook for me to look at. It was amazing to see all the places the bear and my dad traveled together. It made me feel as though I was with him.
I have many reasons why social media does more good than bad, but staying connected with my family during challenging times is number one for me. My family is everything to me and I would not be as close to relatives without it.
Comments