The Positives of Social Media!

We see many articles about how social media is bad for our health. Yes, this can definitely be true, especially if we do not limit ourselves, if we are sensitive to negativity, or if we let it get in the way of activities. Addiction to social media is real and it is important to make sure we never let ourselves get to that point.

However, that is not the point of this article. The point here is that social media can have positive benefits that should be addressed. The first one is that it gives us the ability to stay up to date with our family and friends. We all have family or friends who live far from us or who are too busy to see often. Social media allows them to update us on things such as them buying a new car, finding out the gender of their baby, or getting a promotion, along with any others they care about so nobody gets left out. It also allows us a chance to see photos of them that we wouldn’t get otherwise, such as Easter pictures of their children or family photos. We can interact with them through social media by wishing them a happy birthday or a congratulations, seeing memories of the two of us together and reminiscing through comments, or through sharing things to them we think they may like. Nothing can ever replace spending real, face-to-face time with someone and enjoying an activity, but when that option isn’t there, social media offers a wonderful replacement. 

A second benefit to social media is the ability to quickly stay up to date on news and to help raise awareness on social issues. Prior to social media people would have to rely on word of mouth news from friends, reading a newspaper, or having time to watch a TV news program. This limited the amount of sources we got information from, whereas now we have access to dozens of publications across multiple platforms and can find a more accurate and detailed version of the truth. When we pull up our social media feeds in the morning, if something newsworthy is happening chances are it is the first thing we see, along with the ability to read more details about the issue and see the reactions from the people we interact with. We can make informed decisions about companies, voting, and people from the quick and informative news we receive from our social media.

Another benefit to social media is the ability to learn new things about what interests us. “Hack” videos explaining how to use ordinary items to make things easier for us are great resources for learning. Social media such as Pinterest gives us creative ideas for crafts and cooking that we wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to. We can search for specific things we enjoy and then see hundreds of things that match our interest that others have posted for us. We also now have the ability to join groups on social media such as Facebook or Reddit to keep us in contact with others who enjoy similar things. We can follow “subreddits” dedicated to games or movies we like and interact online with others who feel the same. We can also socialize with people over Facebook groups and build our social or business network.

Of course, another important benefit would be the ability of social media to make us laugh or improve our moods. Social media such as Tiktok allows us to view videos that people have created of themselves, their dogs, or their children doing funny things that make us laugh out loud and want to share with others. Seeing inspirational stories from people around the world from blogs such as Humans of New York on Instagram increase our empathy for others and even give us quick options for donating to worthy causes. Finally, seeing videos of our nieces or grandchildren smiling or learning a new skill can cheer us up when we’re feeling down or alone, at the tap of a finger.

A final benefit would be that social media has actually increased the amount of time we socialize with people outside of our household! We send pictures and chats over Snapchat daily to friends we would otherwise only communicate with in person maybe once per month. We send funny videos to start conversations with our siblings that we otherwise would only see at family functions. Social media keeps our relationships with those around us stronger, especially if we are really busy and have little time available for in-person activities. 

Of course, social media usage provides a unique set of challenges for us as we figure out how to limit time spent on it, what we are looking at, and who we keep in contact with. But this invention of the 21st century has the potential for so much positivity that discounting it entirely or only writing about its downsides causes us to lose out on so much. This past year especially, imagine how much harder things would have been without the ability to “see” friends and family through photos or posts or quickly get information on virus or voting related news. It is important to consider being thankful for the benefits various social media platforms bring us as we navigate through how to best use them in our lives.

Kyndal Sims

Birch Psychology

Resources

https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/social-media-and-mental-health.htm

https://smartsocial.com/positive-impact-of-social-media/

https://carrierclinic.org/2019/08/08/the-good-bad-and-in-between-of-social-media/