In the world today, social media has taken over in the technology community. Some different types of social media are Tik Tok, Instagram, and Snapchat. I think our world would be better if social media was only used for people 18 and older. The positive of social media is that it’s a place where people can connect with other people from all around the world and post about their day to day life. The down side to social media is that it’s addicting, it makes people become obsessed with how they look and is a place where people can feel lonely.  

I got social media around 7th grade, and I regret not waiting until freshman year. I begged my parents to get me Instagram and they finally said “Yes” to me. I was so happy, and then I finally realized that my screen time skyrocketed, and I got sad when I saw my friends were hanging out with others and not me. More importantly, I saw an increase in my anxiety, which led me to always worrying about how I looked or always wanting to be the popular one with 1,000 followers. I started to not like it and I wanted to delete the app, but I couldn’t because I got addicted to it. Social media beguiled me into thinking that social media is helping me more than hurting me. Everyday, I spend around two to three hours on social media and that’s around 14 hours every week. I could be accomplishing so much in those two to three hours. Social media is not a place for 7th grade kids, and it’s not a place for high schoolers who are trying to figure out their life. 

People who are 18 and older are most likely going to start thinking of what college they are going to or what career they are thinking about going into. According to the University of The People, 18-year-olds are starting to make some major life decisions. I think that this is the appropriate time for social media use because they are going to be studying and working hard, and not spending their time watching videos on the internet. Lastly, older people are busy working, trying to make a living, and taking care of their children, so they won’t be on social media. 

I think our world would be better if social media was only used for people 18 and older because they are going to college, starting to figure things out in their lives, and will be too busy studying and working to have a life of their own.