During the course of our years, many things have come to life. We have iPhones with touchscreens (may Steve Jobs rest in peace), iPads and computers- both of which are available in almost any school, and the students living in these ages are well immersed in social media. Welcome to my social media rant.

Any teenager has had at least ten lectures about it. The: “be safe,” “don’t do anything stupid,” “once it’s online, it’s there forever.” All those phrases and many more are sayings that have been drilled into our minds; so why is it that we still have such a problem with social media? It has been perforated, and pierced into our heads, yet some kids still don’t get it.

Now, I want to start off by saying, I understand that there are way too many of these arguments (for and against) online, but I am playing the American card and exercising my freedom of speech.

First off, no matter how many times you tell some teens (or adults for that matter) that what you put online stays online, they don’t get it. SNAPCHAT KEEPS ALL YOUR PICTURES. Many people argue that Snapchat is only a 10 second picture and the person on the receiving end can never get that picture. Yet what some don’t realize is that the person on the receiving end can screenshot the picture and still have the opportunity to put it online or send it to their friends. Snapchat basically has a folder of pictures that have been sent and received, according to many articles that I have read researching for my rant.

Let me simplify this for you, when you send something to the trash, it might be out of sight out of mind, but it STILL GOES SOMEWHERE. Likewise, once you hit delete something on the internet or on your computer, IT STILL GOES SOMEWHERE. Nothing is ever truly deleted on the internet.

This leads to many kids losing college scholarships, adults losing jobs because of a post they made they made in high school. IT NEVER GOES AWAY.

Want an example of this? Remember last year when there was that girl who posted a tweet saying that she was apart of Al-Qaida and on June 6th something bad was going to happen? She was then taken in by the FBI and put into questioning, according to many news outlets. Now, while she might have not been convicted, what are the chances that anyone is going to want her at their school, or their office.

However, it’s unfair for me to say all these things about social media and how much it destroys our daily lives, without saying how much it as enhanced our lives in more ways than one. One of my favorite shows to watch (when I have the time to watch TV) is Shark Tank. It’s a show that has millionaires and billionaires that make deals with entrepreneurs to accentuate their businesses. Understand that these entrepreneurs are regular people who don’t have  a lot of money to put into advertisement, so the way that they get there products sold through social media.

Social media can be beneficial in many ways. For high school students, posting your accomplishments or your day during community service on your Instagram or Twitter, can help colleges see what you do during your free time.

Social media doesn’t have to be a negative thing that we hear about in lectures and school assembly’s. Using social media in life can do things that you have never thought about before.