To begin with, my thoughts on Social media have always been pretty clear. How many likes did I get on that picture and what should I post next? If you think about it, almost every friend you know the first thing you do upon meeting is ask, do you have a Facebook or Twitter? The thought that the world has gone from just the average "Hello, my name is," to this is my username for this account, go friend me, just blows my mind. The average teenager uses Social media a minimum of two hours and twenty minutes every day (Christakis). To some, Social media has changed our generation into lazy, small-minded, and unable to make conversation unless over technology. The reason for most of the United States problems and solutions is technology. More importantly, Social Media. This topic has continually grown more interesting to me not only because my generation is the one everyone believes is ruining the world, but also because for the most part, we are. It's crazy to think that the human population has gone from not sure how to even create electricity to everything revolving around it. My research has proven that if you were to ask a group of teenagers to give up all Social media for a week, not even half would be able to manage the full week and would probably find a way to use it. Communication has slowly progressed throughout the world from taking almost years to receive a letter, to having a complete conversation in under five minutes. I always want to question myself as to how this is, but the real question is does Social media really benefit us? Social media has paved the generations into a more technology dependent life, but along with it just to name a few, it has also created cyberbullying, changed language, and is also one of the top leading causes of pedestrians deaths. 

"Cyberbullying has become on of the leading sources of technological, social, and policy debate in Canada and North America over the last decade," says Michael Arntfield in his article entitled "Toward a Cybervicitimology." Technology such as Social media has only grown more and more apart of the newest generations meaning it will only become more of a problem. "Part of the apparent lack of progress in combating and legislating cyberbullying would seem to rest in the fact that there is, remarkably, still no consensus on a clear and workable definition of cyberbullying in either a scholarly or a criminal context- a shortcoming aggravated by the fact that the vast majority of cyberbullying is thought to go unreported, or at least significantly underreported." This quote remarkably shows us how detrimental Social media is in the fact that people who get cyberbullied rarely report in. Victims of cyberbullying shouldn't have to be afraid to report it. Social media has projected worldwide websites that have created more issues than positives. Cyberbullying typically isn't done by just one person, it's usually multiple people who gang up on others (Arntfield 1). "We're all embedded in vast social networks of friends, family, co-workers and more ... from happiness to obesity  --  can spread from person to person, showing how your location in the network might impact your life in ways you don't even know," says Nicholas Christakis in his TED talk about "The hidden influence of social media." According to this quote, it proves that Nicholas Christakis has the opinion that people act the way their friends do. So if one person is a bully then his close friends are also probably bullies. This can prove that Social media has an influence on each other and the people you associate with. If someone keeps up with their friends on Facebook, noticing that they're getting into arguments online then they'll probably end up joining in the defense of their friend. Another term that Nicholas Christakis points out is: when you think of old couples they typically die within a year or two of each other. This proves that the influence the couple have on each other suddenly ends, the other is soon to follow. Christakis uses this term known as "widower." He then goes on to explain how everyone close to this couple seemed to somehow be upset and this tragedy of them both dying within a year or two. This goes to show that cyberbullying affects everyone especially whenever they see or hear about a cyberbully. Social media has created a worldwide connected space online where anyone at anytime can do basically anything they want in a matter of seconds, and can only influence others through their posts. "The widower affect" was not restricted from husbands and wives, nor was it restricted from pairs of people. I started to see the world in pairs of people, and then those pairs with other pairs ... " This quote proves that the "small world" theory was created because of Social media (Christakis). If you've ever heard of Kevin Bacon, then you've got to be aware of the 'Six Degrees' challenge. The 'Six Degrees' challenge is a website created by Kevin Bacon that lets you put in anyone's name out of 6.7 billion people on this planet, and be able to shake anyone's hand within six handshakes. Just stop and put that in to perspective, in six handshakes you could know anyone. Social media is slowly getting more and more out of hand from the cyberbullying to being able to influence others without even trying (Griggs).

Jon Reed writes an article "How Social Media is changing language," claiming that Social media has completely changed the world's language in a few aspects. "The words that surround us every day influence the words we use. Since so much of the written language we see is now on the screens of our computers, tablets, and smartphones, language now evolves partly through our interaction with technology. Due to the language we use to communicate with each other tends to be more abbreviated than formal writing, the combination of informal, personal communication and the mass audience afforded by social media is a recipe for rapid change. From the introduction of new words to new meanings for old words to changes in the way we communicate, social media is make its presence felt." Reed notices that every word or phrase that "normal" people would type out has been abbreviated to things like "LOL" or winky faces, ";-)." Social media has created an entire new language to the point where some people in in older generations aren't even sure how to speak it. Not only is Social media changing our language, but it's also creating a world where Americans aren't sure what to do without it (Reed). In "Americans can't live with out the web- but social media is a different story," it talks about how within a study Americans said that it would be very difficult to give up the internet. "More than half of Americans, 53% to be exact, admit they would find Social media "very hard" to give up, compared with 38% who thought so in 2006." This shows that not only is Social media continuously growing, but more and more people are finding it hard to give up. " ... a large percentage of Americans mostly see the internet as a tool for good and a way to connect with loved ones." So not only has Social media created problems with our entire language being changed in to different codes, but also is most of the world saying they aren't sure if they could give it up (Rogers).

"In 2013, 4,735 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States. This averages to one crash-related pedestrian death every 2 hours. Additionally, more than 150,000 pedestrians were treated in emergency departments for non-fatal crash-related injuries in 2013. Pedestrians are 1.5 times more likely than passenger vehicle occupants to be killed in  a car crash on each trip," says the CDC. They also say that, "Each day in the United States, over 8 people are killed and 1161 injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver. Distracted driving is driving while doing another activity that takes your attention away from driving. Distracted drivers can increase the chance of a motor vehicle crash." With both of these quotes, you can tell just how vital being distracted from the use of Social media is. just to put this in to perspective, "At 55 mph, the average text takes your eyes off the road long enough to cover a football field." Within the last 5 years, distracted people have had a 25% increase in fatalities. Most people don't realize that Social media is creating more deaths per year just by having the phone receive an alert! Considering that one of the top leading causes of death is by pedestrians being hit and killed is a crazy fact. Because of Social media, pedestrians are usually not paying attention and tend to walk in the middle of the road with headphones on to where they can't hear a car's horn (Pedestrian Safety).

Social media has created a diverse world that is causing more negatives than positives. But I will agree Social media has helped drastically in some cases. One of those cases is by far, communication. Research done by Darcy Leutkemeyer says that, "In many ways, the changes in communication social media has inspired are beneficial to the world community. Thanks to social media, people living in different countries can share their lives on Pinterest through pictures, text updates and video chat. Important messages can easily be distributed to large groups of recipients, and people can network with one another for job leads, mentoring and even romance ... " This quote goes to show that communication is one of the major reasons people get Social media and use it. It's useful when friends or family get separated for periods of time, so that they can always keep in contact. Not only is Social media useful when families get separated for periods of time, but it's also useful in improving business communication and improves ads. "Using Social media, businesses can build ongoing relationships with consumers, who will then remain loyal to the brand. Social media allows businesses to move away from overt advertising and focus on providing consumers with valuable information and insights. Furthermore, because 70% of social media users are already shopping online, social media marketing tactics are much more effective than print advertisements and phone calls, which are usually ignored anyway." So as you can tell from distance between families to professional networking, social media has forever changed the way people communicate (Leutkmeyer). In another study Ashish Kumar says, "Given the unprecendent reach of social media, firms are increasingly relying on it as a channel for marketing communication." This quote shows how social media has made a huge impact on the business world through communication. Scrolling down any website on social media you will no matter what see some sort of advertisements popping up continuously. Through the generations advertisements first started out in newspapers and now they're all over the internet with just one click of the button (Ashish 8).

In a report made by Kelly Wallace from CNN, she talks with a small town family about what they think about Social media. Immediately, the mother starts to say how she has full access to her daughters Social media sites and how the only thing is she can't post on anything. Shortly after Wallace asks the daughter how that makes her feel getting back a smile with a strong agreement saying that she loves social media and that she has never felt bullied or out of place while in use. She continues saying how "I think just as damaging as social media can be, it can ...  help build self-confidence too." An outcome that is usually overlooked about Social media is that in most children's lives all the comments say "You're beautiful," or "Oh my God, gorgeous." "In fact, according to a report last year by the nonprofit child advocacy group Common Sense Media, one in five teens said social media makes them feel more confident, compared with 4% who said it makes them feel less so." Looking at the statistics teenagers feel that social media creates a more outgoing self, rather than what people typically think in every case is cyberbullying. "Teens have also shown they can use social media to make their voices heard." This quote also proves that social media gives teenagers the voice they may have never thought they had. Social media gives teenagers who don't think anyone will listen to them a chance to be heard on the media sites. Not only do teenagers feel as though they have more confidence or a voice after using social media, but also said social media "not only increased tweens and teens" awareness of the world around them, but also has allowed them to be more innovative about how they can get involved." Students can easily see others doing right for the community and will follow. This could create a world where everyone wants to help once they see a bad situation going on around the world, such as hashtags used on Twitter or challenges such as cinnamon or a gallon of milk. These sort of things go viral and if we can get the right type of stuff out there, think of the possibilities we could overcome as one (Wallace).

Social media has slowly progressed in to a profile where anyone can access at any time. It's changed the way the world interacts with others, and is providing many useful tools for the world to grow off of. Still social networks are continuing to grow and provide better features for users. Altogether social media has its advantages and its disadvantages similar to anything else, but I still have to agree that the negatives out weigh the positives. Social media can get us in to a world filled with hatred if we're not cautious now of what we do with it. We need to pay attention to the younger generations and make sure that we're all on the same terms that Social media should be used wisely. Changes to the way we represent ourselves can go a long way because others will then be more likely to follow. You could start off by making sure when you see any sort of bullying online to press the "report" button as soon as possible. As parents we could keep tabs on your children, let them know what is right and what is wrong when it comes to posts, comments, or likes. The negatives continuously out weigh the positives because people can easily find other ways to make advertisements go viral or use the mailing system to keep in touch with family and friends who are miles apart. Although social media has created great ways of communication, given teenagers a voice and confidence, and has also made an impact on advertisements; there are ways to go about doing those things in easier ways without the use of  Social media. Every time I think of Social media I only see the negatives it has caused such as cyberbullying which influences other friends to do the same, changed the world's language, and lastly caused one of the top leading deaths in pedestrians due to distractions.

