Social media has destructive effects on society

What do social media and partying have in common? The fact that people can be careless when it comes to their participation in both.

This became apparent to me last New Year’s when I was scrolling through social media and noticed an influx of posts related to underage drinking and partying.

Globally, the culture of New Year’s celebrations often involves drinking, and while I understand this and why people chose to drink underage, I couldn’t quite wrap my brain around the reasoning behind posting such photos.

As a journalism student and an athlete, I have – on more than one occasion – been informed of the possible negative and unintended consequences of such actions.

To me, a mere photo of alcohol, drugs or a slightly risqué shot posted to a social media account isn’t worth the possible consequences. So what possesses others to risk similar aspects of their lives?

It all boils down to our society’s obsession with creating ideal images of ourselves through our online presence.

Logging on to any social media site is like walking into a fun house full of distorting mirrors: nothing, literally nothing, is real.

In real time, we can’t filter our face, or sift through the negative aspects of our lives, but social media allows us to create an image of ourselves the way we please. We show others what we want them to see.

By carefully and thoughtfully selecting the pictures that make us look more attractive, fun or adventurous, and when we have time to word our opinions best, our ideal image of ourselves is the outcome.

To prove this, several studies have shown that looking at your own Facebook profile can actually boost your self-esteem, and that many people even become addicted to the site because of it.

So if the main goal of social media is to promote oneself in a way that’s appealing to others, I have a hard time understanding the purpose of posting pictures of that two-story beer bong you and your friends did last weekend.

Surely, it’s not to impress future employers.

Logically, it has to be an attention grab. It’s better to have someone talking negatively about you than not talking about you at all, right?

I’ve heard many arguments against this claim, all of which I disregard as dishonesty.

After I recently posted a tweet about the idiocy of posting underage drinking photos online, I received several responses claiming I shouldn’t “judge others for their actions.” Comical.

While I don’t care what people are doing outside of the social media realm, a social media post is fair game for judgment. That’s because social media’s purpose is quite literally for others to judge who you are as a person based upon your online presence.

Anyone who says they post to social media without thinking about what the response from others will be is lying. If people didn’t care about how many likes their photos received, they wouldn’t have a social media account in the first place.

This idea that adverse attention results in popularity is not positive representation for more reason than one. Aside from the possibility of social media jeopardizing current or future jobs, think about what these posts convey to the younger generations.

Behind every underage drinking or bikini photo is a person with imperfections and insecurities. Our minds don’t think about this as we scroll through our Instagram discovery feeds full of hot girls on tropical vacations.

Don’t we want young kids to post about their good grades, their successes or the other parts of their life they’re most proud of? Because I can guarantee that a raunchy picture from a party they attended doesn’t accurately depict who they really are as a person.

I believe it’s important to create a positive image of yourself for yourself. Understanding what makes you unique and special regardless of the insecurities you hide from the cyber world is crucial.

While I don’t foresee a near future where social media no longer exists, it’s clear the destructive powers it has. Perfection isn’t reality, and our society’s obsession with such sites is harmful to ourselves and the generations that will follow us.