Caliel James Ogaro October 2 2018

Grade 11 St. John Paul II

Social Media and its Faces

Let me start this off with a question. How much time do you spend on surfing the net?
Do you think you gain something useful for yourself? Well, average teenagers nowadays
spends 4 to 6hrs a day. And of course we do gain something from it, like news if ever there’s a
class today with this heavy rain, or like how are our favourite actress/band is going, are they still
intact? There are a lot of things we can benefit from it, but which side are we looking at? The
reality or the fantasy? Have you seen a family going out, eating, and bonding without the
phones? Couples going date without checking their phones? Mostly all of us have phone, I do
have one too, and I can’t deny the fact that wherever I go phone is always at my side. I have
seen countless of family, couples, and friends going out with their phones in front of them. And it
really is bad, it is giving us barrier of some sort where we can limit ourselves to interact with the
people we personally attained. Thinking about it before our real friends are countless and now
we have a million. Social media may help us succeed/achieve something that we personally
want, but it’s not really what we call our needs. Family, friends in real life, are the most essential
needs that our life needs. Have you ever turned your back halfway on doing something just to
take your phone? To be honest I did it once, and it was a regret. It was my time with my friends
to hang out, they don’t have phones and I want to let them see a certain picture that I go, the
moment got home to get my phone my mum didn’t allow me to go out anymore. If you were in
my place, would it be regret you’re feeling? And it’s not just us teenagers who’s caught up in
social media, even my parent were, you know I was so happy that they didn’t knew about social
media at all, since it may inform us with a wrong detail and they may knew what we usually do
alone. The moment my parents got their phone they not even talking, it feels like what they’re
doing in front of their face there’s another important thing besides the family bonding. Social
media may be just an app or site, but it impacts a lot of people in just in a good way and in other
way around, many kids or teens have been suffering from cyber bully, racism and sexism are
the examples of it. It makes them feel uncomfortable going out, going to school it makes them
anti-social. Facebook is one of the app or website that I knew, that is currently facing crisis,
setting that aside, we teenagers are Facebook users and of course that’s obvious since most of
are my friends “e-friends”, and most of us users are posting for fame getting tons likes is one
thing that we need to be fame, and if ever another person posts and gained more likes than you,
then jealousy kicks in then started hating that person. I think we will all live life better if we have
hands to hold rather than screens to *beep beep beep* touch. Socializing is so overrated.
People do nothing but judge, discriminate, bully, abuse, lie, hypocrisy and cause drama, and it’s
true, since we face another face or personality we show in our social life. We can just “meh they
don’t know where I live so it’s Gucci.” Like bruh, socializing isn’t necessary for good mental
health, and it’ true. And to think that the thing that’s supposed to connect us makes us lose
connection, social media is not social, it’s just a traffic sharing network. Social media has made
it a point where we get addicted to it and completely immerse ourselves in it, which it lessen our
freedom to do the things we need, it made some people ‘greed for likes’ rather than making our
parents proud for us. Basically we live our lives behind the screen. Nevertheless, social media is
not all bad, but we need to know how to balance between using social media and staying connected
with face to face conversations. And according to the former Facebook executive, “if you feed the
beast that beast will destroy you, if we push back on it, we have the chance to control it and reign it
in.” it give us a hint that we need to take a deep break on using this apps or site that is related to
social media, it is ripping apart the barrier between reality and social life. And the most accurate
saying from the former Facebook executive is that “you are programmed” most of the users that
whenever they get heart, like, comment they get is giving them interest in posting more. Social
media has been on trend nowadays especially for the millennial. Posting there, tweeting here,
people have been like this. Communication is much easier now unlike before, thanks to social
media. One click and everything that you've put in there will be posted and can be seen by
everyone. Sharing your thoughts, expressing your feelings, relating with people's stories, having
fun or anything, these can be done through social media. We only focus on the beneficial things
that we get through it, but if we look at the other side, social media has been making our actual
social life inactive. Isn't it ironic? This will be the end of my speech.