As technology and applications continue to advance, so do the issues over how social media has the capacity to impact an individual.

Social media is a major part of peoples’ lives all over the world, with over 3.5 billion people involved in a social platform, according to thenextweb.com. Social media is a way for people to communicate with their peers anytime and anywhere, given they obtain the required data or device to access these sites. Students seem to have positive feelings. “I love social media and I think that it has affected me in a positive way. It allows me to keep up with the latest trends and stay involved in my friends’ and my family members’ lives,” junior Skylar Rothman said.

In addition to providing access to several trends and forms of communication, social media also acts as a stress reliever. After a long day of school work and extracurriculars, students find themselves engaged in their social media apps. “Sometimes when I’m feeling stressed, I go on social media such as Instagram or Snapchat to get my mind off of things. As soon as I get home from school or track practice, I spend hours on social media,” junior Sean Kim said.

Nethertheless, social media is not all fun and games. It has the potential to take over one’s psyche, causing them to lose track of time. Social media has been shown to have addictive qualities, causing a person to become increasingly more lazy. “I am guilty of spending excessive amounts of time on many different social media apps. I have trouble focusing on homework and in class because of it,” sophomore Ian Reppie said.

With so many people spanning across all social media sites, including influencers and picture-perfect celebrities, an individual’s mental health is bound to get affected. Mental health disorders including bulimia, anorexia, depression, and anxiety are a few of the disturbances taking a toll on individuals. “My entire friend group has anxiety and has to deal with it everyday. Social media may be the number one cause of this,” junior Riya Kohli said.

Aside from the possible impact that social media has on students, it can also affect the individual’s parents or family as a whole. Parents have less control over what their children do once social media comes into play; they have to deal with worrying about what their children are posting and viewing.