In my opinion, the most important societal problem today is the internet/social media. Social media affects everyone all over the world, no matter how old or how young you are. In today’s world, kids are using the internet to make all of their decisions that they should be making on their own. Society teaches them how to dress, what to eat, how you should look vs how you shouldn’t look, what’s cool and what’s not cool, etc. Social media can either break you or make you and most people get broken. Kids at young ages learn things that they shouldn’t know and say things that they shouldn’t say because of social media. Teens struggle with depression because of the things that are said on the internet, words really do hurt people! The teenage suicide rate keeps climbing higher and higher and half of the time it’s over being bullied over social media. People tend to say hurtful/harmful things online because it’s their way of feeling like they have control. Social media affects teens, body image, self- esteem, relationships, politics, and mental health.

How you feel about yourself should not change just because of the “standards” of social media. Adults, teens, and younger kids have low self-esteem because of feeling like they don’t look like the perfect image for the media. If you don’t have the latest Jordans, if you don’t have the newest iPhone,  if you don’t wear a certain brand of clothing, society paints you to be the “other.” Being the “other” can make you feel really down because you’re the opposite of what society wants you to be. What everyone else is doing, and how everyone else is looking, shouldn’t matter to anyone else, but sadly in today’s world, it matters.

Kids get bullied, even adults get bullied for not being the picture perfect person that society expects. No one wants to be bullied and no one wants to admit that we all are trapped. We are trapped in a way of life, that is mentally not okay. We can’t stay off of our phones, constantly thinking about what will be the huge social media news of the day, without knowing, we intentionally feed into the negativity.

Relationships get ruined in today’s world because of social media and it’s expectations as to how people should treat each other. The media has rules as to what every friendship, relationship, etc. should be like. Everyone isn’t meant to react the same and everyone doesn’t have to be perfect in their relationships. Many people don’t like to admit it, but we’re so sucked into the media and their expectations that we forget who we truly are.

Live your life a little, never compare yourself to anyone just have fun! Put your phone down sometimes and go out and do something that you enjoy doing for a change. Instead of being cooped up in the house on your phone all day! Life is honestly what you make it!