In our world, social media has basically taken over. Every day no matter where you go you will see someone with a cell phone out on Facebook or Twitter. Everyone is embracing the new social media sites, but they don’t seem to realize the cost. Social media has gotten to the point where if you don’t have any type of social media account you are made fun of.

I’ll start with young children. Just ten years ago once kids got done with preschool and kindergarten they would go home and do their homework. After that they would go outside and play in the mud. No matter what weather you could always walk down a street and see kids playing outside. Now, once kids get home from school the first thing they do is get out their phone. Whether they watch Youtube or play Minecraft, they are losing their chance to go outside and make memories. As a society we are letting our children trade Ipads for their childhood.

Next is teenagers. The time in a person’s life from where they a 13 to when they turn 20 is a big part of determining who they are. Again, ten years ago teenagers didn’t really have the social media we do, so for fun they actually rode their bikes or, if they were old enough, they would drive to a friends house or their local library. Teens would have sleepovers and instead of being on their phones the whole time, they would actually talk to each other, imagine that! Now, instead of bike riding and library trips, all teenagers do is go to their rooms and check their social media. The internet has played a big part in a teenagers life. Their grades wouldn’t be as good because instead of paying attention in class they would be sneaking looks at their phones! At this point you can’t even take away their phones because they will just find another way.

The last group of people social media directly affects is the adults. Adults are affected in many ways, I’ll start with one. All adults seem to care about these days are how many likes they can get on Facebook. When someone wants to get to know someone all they have to do is look at their Facebook profile or their Snapchat story. Adults spend all day coming up with the perfect Instagram picture, then they get upset when their picture doesn’t get more than thirty likes. None of them need to see other people’s faces, because they have Facebook instead! Another way it affects adults is through their children. Many parents have watched their children become addicted to their phones. They also have to watch their children’s self esteem go down because they aren’t getting the attention they want on social media.

All in all, social media may be an innovative idea that everyone believes to be great. But what most people like to overlook is the parts of social media that aren’t as appealing. But what people need to pay more attention to is the price we pay for this technology, and the effects it has on this generation, and, as time goes by, more generations to come.