I have been a frequent user of social media, but began using it much later than most people I know. I went to a very small school prior to high school, and felt as if social media wasn’t necessary since I saw everybody I knew every single day. High school was a time when I experimented with different social media platforms and discovered which ones I liked best, those being Twitter and Instagram. But since leaving for college, social media has allowed me to stay in contact with people from my high school, whether we were close friends or not. Social media has also allowed me to connect with those I meet at college in different ways. I’ve used social media, such as GroupMe and Snapchat, to communicate with those I’ve met.

I agree that some users do use social media “to pump up their egos and flatter themselves with a cascade of “micro-affirmations” — a.k.a. likes.” I have never been very concerned with the amount of followers I have or the number of likes I get on a certain picture, but I know some people who are. One of my friends even contemplated deleting an Instagram picture because it didn’t have “enough likes.” An addiction to social media to this extent, to the point where it defines your dignity, is unhealthy and is definitely an increasing problem with more and more people using social media. Social media acts as a way to stay in contact with others and to express oneself, but it is the user’s responsibility to not let it define them.