Social Media has several impacts on our modern society, proving to be both positive and negative. 

“My experience with a predator through social media was when a grown old man commented on one of my photos on Instagram, he then texted me personally and started making inappropriate comments and then continued to ask for inappropriate photos of me and said he would pay me for them,” Freshman Jazzelle Dominguez stated.  

 Social media can open doorways for teens to talk to strangers. This can be especially dangerous for teens because they do not have much experience in life. They can usually be more easily persuaded than adults and that means they are more susceptible to bad things happening to them because of talking to strangers online. 

“I have received messages that claim to offer relationships in return for money however I typically ignore these and delete them immediately being that they could be perverts on the internet trying to take advantage of vulnerable people such as small children, “Sophomore Mia Bayarena stated. 

One negative effect of social media is that it can enable strangers to talk to teens. The bad part about this is that gullible teens can be persuaded by malicious strangers. They will even use money sometimes to further persuade teens. 

“I think scamming people or ripping people off is probably easier now, anybody can sell you fake products and just disappear off the internet,” Freshman Evangeline Ruiz stated. 

Scamming people has become easier in some sense. If you buy something online, a scammer could easily not send anything to you, or send you an item of lesser value. Authorities also really cannot do much to help. However, many people see the positive in social media. 

“Stocks are the future of our businesses and people like me starting at a young age have a head start. With the addition of social media, we can spread it to our generation,” Freshman Lauren Jorda stated. 

One benefit of social media is that it has helped the expansion of the online market to everyday consumers. Certain social media applications such as Instagram and Facebook have opened markets which allow users on the app to sell and buy products. The products are usually discounted, which allows for more products to be bought and sold, therefore helping the economy. 

“I think social media helps people feel less lonely, especially with myself, when I’m feeling down, talking to my friends and connecting with people in general helps me feel less isolated,” Sophomore Mia Bayarena stated. 

Social media also has benefited people’s mental health in a few ways. Humans are social creatures, they evolved around other humans. Without keeping in contact with friends and relatives, people’s mental health could decline. 

“I think social media is both bad and good, it really depends on how someone uses it,” Ruiz stated.