The recent technological boom of the 21st century has had a profound impact on the ways in which younger generations communicate, form relationships, and their attitudes toward aspects such as work or schooling. Particularly "social media", which is defined in Sarifa Mahadi's The Impact of  Social Media Among Undergraduate Students: Attitude as the "wide range of Internet based and mobile services that allow users to participate and engage in online exchanges, contribute to user created content, joining the online community", is constantly changing similar attributes significantly and differently from generation to generation (Mahadi). Our grandparents and what shaped their interpersonal communication skills consisted solely of face-to-face interactions, while the most recent generation, known as "Generation Y" or "Millennials", have grown accustomed to communicating over the digital web instead (Mahadi). The question all people of every age must ask themselves, however, is not whether the newly introduced ideas of social media is good or bad for our younger generations, but rather ask themselves what they must do to mend the gap between older generations and younger ones that has been created due to this digital world of communication. In order for the Millennials and older generations to prosper, communicate efficiently, and debate current issues around the world, society as a whole must adapt to and take advantage of the benefits of social media(Westerman).  

If face-to-face interactions are declining amongst today's youth, then this gap exists between those youngsters and their own parents or grandparents because they were never exposed to such a technology-based upbringing. Thus is the issue and the topic of the current paper, and whether this paper is being read by an older citizen, a middle-aged woman, or a college student, in order to gain knowledge from the below written piece must expel all previous thoughts about social media and its impact on the world. In doing so, an objective viewpoint will give all readers the ability to see the content of this article as objective too even though it is written from the perspective of a member of the Millennial generation. Eventually the reader of this paper should understand the negative aspects as well as the positive aspects involved with social media and high-speed communication over the Internet, but the primary purpose is to sway doubters or naysayers in the direction of supporting social media. If the gap is mended, and older people begin to truly see the incredible capabilities that online websites such as Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat provide, the United States will become a more prominent nation among others since this phenomenon is occurring globally.  

The first origin in which social media has become a controversial tropic is in the classroom. According to David Westerman, a professor at North Dakota State University, "some educators have suggested that social media technologies can help students better engage each other as well as course material, and help students develop social media literacies (which might further reduce resistance toward the technologies)"(Westerman). On the other hand, many professors are leaning away from social media in the classroom, and debating whether or not a band should be put in affect because of its distractive nature. Due to the fact that 83% of adults aged 18-29 currently access some sort of social media outlet, a ban could eventually lead to a decrease in college education among university students since the overwhelming majority wants to have access to their mobile devises (Westerman). Also, there are social media websites that offer college student the ability to put their profiles out for future employers, so if a ban is put in place these helpful items will not be fully used to their highest ability. Similarly, according to Patrick Gallooly, a business entrepreneur who used similar websites in order to start his own business, society's "social media presence -- and, really,...[its]...whole digital footprint -- is no longer just an extension of... [ones]...résumé. It's as important as your résumé. Social media use is now a standard of the hiring process, and there's little chance of going back to old methods of hiring" (Gallooly). Thus, students should be able to use these social media sites during, and in between classes in order to take advantage of the online hiring process. By heightening knowledge among students of Universities nation-wide about business-driven networking sites, the future ambassadors of our country will be able to receive the job offer that could change their lives drastically.  

Another argument against the use of social media outlets is that its use can lead to problems among today's fragile-minded youth because it can cause problems such as anxiety, stress, or reliance to social media (Keller). To debunk this theory, the reader must consider the purpose of this paper, and assume that all subjects at hand, whether they are 70 years old or 20, do not fall into these health risks. However, on the topic of health-related risks associated with mainstream social media outlets, there are several accusations made in articles on the topic who's central claim is that youth can become addicted to social media. The correct response to this theory, while considering the purpose of this paper in determining the positive side of media outlets, is to assume that this is a good thing. In Zurich Insurance Company's YouTube video entitled "See How Social Media is Changing the Way We Communicate", every single day over 300,000 people join twitter, 55 million tweets are tweeted, 35 million people update their Facebook status, and over an hour is averaged on Facebook (Zurich). They believe that these staggering numbers of usage should be met with an even larger number of businesses looking to capitalize on this response rather than see it as a problem. So, if there are capabilities for "the release of the fifth edition of the DSM" and Internet addiction becomes "a mental illness marked by emotional shutdown, lack of concentration, and withdrawal symptoms", then the benefits of social media among society still outweigh these concerns since virtually all other sources offer positive feedback rather than negative.  

Although there are a few professors, coaches, or members of the older-generations who feel as though social media is unhealthy or it shouldn't be used in the classroom setting, there is much more evidence online that suggests social media has the potential power to drastically improve many aspects of our youth's lives today. As previously mentioned, spreading knowledge about the topic of improving America by educating the public about how to use social media no matter the age, sex, gender etc. must extend to the younger generation as well as the oldest one. The reasoning behind such an idea is that once all groups of people in the U.S. are informed, and can participate in political debates, discussions on controversial topics such as abortion, or simply speaking their opinion over social media sites such as Facebook, we will have a much broader list of viewpoints to elaborate and come to terms with possible solutions that work for everyone. In a survey lead by Professor Mahadi where over 300 students were asked to report their opinions about social media, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Over 90% agreed that social networking is vital for them to communicate with family members and friends and that false news reports are not an issue because for every bad news article a better, more accurate one exists as well (Mahadi). This is important to extend to older generations because in many cases those who see cellphones or laptops as nonsense there is just a general lack of understanding regarding the activities that members of "Generation Y" are doing on these foreign devices. In order to get a sense of some of these outlets that social media allows, the following paragraphs will explain in detail some of the ways in which society as a whole will benefit from social media use among all generations.  

The largest and most important benefit that can spring from social media acceptance, use, and education among all ages is the ability to increase job opportunities for those in need. According to Patrick Gallooly who was mentioned previously, "Just one platform, Facebook, has created more than 4.5 million social media industry jobs globally" and "The number of people in the creative industries, advertising and more who make a living on social media is probably much higher" (Gallooly). If this staggering number doesn't convince people of all ages that social media's presence in our world is necessary and beneficial, then the opposition to such an idea disagrees out of sheer ignorance and doesn't care about the nation as a whole. If Facebook is capable of creating such amount of jobs, then we must consider the amount of jobs created with other sites such as Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram. The numbers are staggering, and in a world where jobs are at a minimum and many young people are struggling very hard to receive good jobs after college, this idea should be very convincing in determining whether social media is necessary for society. 

Branching off of the job opportunity theory, social media also has the ability to inform users on all forms of social media outlets of current, up-to-date topics and news, as well as sway their opinions because of bias presented in relaying the information to its viewers. Gallooly says "social media is often where news-real or fake, in line with your views- is happening, and being aware of it is crucial for business professionals today" (Gallooly). That being said, often times the news that reaches out Ipods, phones, and computers can often times be fake, so it is very important to distinguish the different between credible sources and non-credible sources of information. To make sure this happens, youth should continue to be informed on a weekly basis about where subjective information is versus objective information by their teachers, parents, or mentors. On a similar note pertaining to educating the public on the issue of false information, Deborah Weatherspoon reports in her article entitled Speaking their language she writes that "Digital natives and some digital immigrants use various forms of social media frequently and tapping into these as a resource for education is important. However, if you are not familiar with these media sources, one might feel that they are in a foreign land when asked, do you post, pin, tweet, snap, or text? Understanding the way many childbearing families communicate and share information will help childbirth educators provide the information their clients need" (Weatherspoon). Although the primary purpose of her essay is focused on childbirth information provided over the internet, she makes a point to explain how users of social media outlets who need the information necessary for those bearing children can easily receive that information at the click of a button. 

As more and more children are born into a world where communicating a message to a friend, family members, or even an anonymous person on Facebook, the inclination to expect answers to any problems at hand to come quickly are rising. That being said, when the technology to do so is at our disposal, the inclinations of those who were born into a different world than those in recent years should be driven to learn anything they can about what children are able to do, not deny it. Even if those who see the use of cellphones for personal communication as taboo resist the idea to conform, and would rather interact in person, there is another type of user that Victoria Wang describes as "lurkers" in her article entitled Strangers Are Friends I haven't Met Yet. Instead of using new commodities technology offers for direct communication, "lurkers" are "doing much to further their careers" such as learning new things, keeping up with the latest trends in fields such as politics, world-wide news reports, or debates over social media about everyday issues society must recognize and manage. In either case, whether society is taking advantage of instantaneous communication or using it to keep themselves up to date on current affairs, both situations represent advantages that we as a nation should encourage every person of all age to engage in, thereby improving national participation in discussions that could improve our nation as a whole.  

 

 
