I’m not a big fan myself with social media, so I mostly steer clear. But there are billions of people online every day of every week of every year, so it’s kind of a big deal. The main purpose of social media sites is to share what you want to say with the world and your friends, connect with family members, or post a picture of something great you’ve achieved. This all goes on, which is great. There are people using the site responsibly and respect the freedoms they’re given to enjoy the site for it’s intended purposes. However there are also people that use the site irresponsibly to verbally attack people for their own entertainment. Everyone (excluding these people) wants to get rid of these people, obviously, but we can’t have our freedoms if we do.

This is where I have problems with articles against social media or protesters: they go on about how we should filter out certain words or ban certain people, but the reality is these people exist and we have to let them in. I hate censorship, because I think anyone should be able to say what they want, and that it’s your responsibility to be able to take or ignore  it. I’m not saying that I respect horrible people who cause people distress everyday, and to truthful there are many people that go over the line, I’m simply stating that this is human nature and it’s your fault if you can’t handle a small insult or avoid one  in the first place.

I’ve “survived” social media harassment myself, and it was really underwhelming compared to some of the stories I had heard. People committing suicide over some of the similar comments I’d received. I think many of these stories are exaggerated by and for the public. I’m not saying I don’t care that they died(I really do care, it’s a very serious problem; go see a doctor if your dealing with depression), but they had to be depressed or extremely sensitive to take those comments seriously.I think the main reason these stories come out exaggerated is to stir up some drama and controversy. And even if these stories (in my opinion) are exaggerated couldn’t you take it as a warning sign that this happens all the time? If you know you’re too sensitive for social media, save your anger, don’t use it. It’s your responsibility to avoid certain people (most sites have a “blocking” feature) and protect yourself.

So what’s the main problem with social media? The people who use it: The drama queens, the attention hogs, trolls, griefers, cyber bullies, spammers, ordinary people who take things too seriously, etc. I could go on and on with this list but it would be too long. Long story short, social media’s great and horrible sides will never go away as long as there’s people just like you using them; no matter what you do, you just can’t get rid of human nature. Without people, the sites are useless, nothing goes on, no one is entertaining, no one is laughing, no one is crying, and no one is hating. But with the people, all of these things will happen together no matter what. Human nature causes us to do act in ways we would never expect to, whether it’s ganging up on somebody to make them feel miserable or completely ignoring someone. Social media has always been like this and in my opinion always will be(as long as we still have the freedom to say whatever we want there). So next time you get mad or angry at a comment, please for the love of God, don’t comment back.