How often do you use social media every day, how long do you spend on social media every time you use it? Do you use it so much that it changes the way you talk to and communicate with others?  Social media influences the way we act on a daily basis, it  can help communication and connection between us. It improves our communication and social lives by making us become more creative, letting us connect, and making communication faster, Our abilities to communicate have been helped thanks to social media.

Allowing us to communicate with our friends and families who may be far away is a huge reason that social media is helping us. Every day, we post on social media to let the people around us know how we’re doing and what we’re up to, even if they aren’t really around us.  For instance, people who live far away from their close family members or friends have the opportunity to connect with them everyday through social media networks. So many people use social media to meet others, that in 2013 it was responsible for 17% of marriages according to Jennifer Cox’s article, “I Knew You Before I Met You: How Social Media Has Changed The Way We Communicate”. This is an astonishing number of people considering how powerful social media has become in the last 10 years.

Possibly the most logical reason is that social media makes communication faster. In the early days of the American Revolution, to send a letter from Europe to America could take anywhere from 3-4 weeks. Now, with social media we can share messages in seconds. It’s no doubt that communication has increased in efficiency and speed. Back in 2013, the first use of social media in political revolutions was used in the events of Arab Spring; many Americans were able to reach out with those in the revolution. We were able to get the inside scoop of what was really going on back there thanks to videos and pictures share on social media. The spread was so massive and rapid that it could not be put to a stop, it was unlike anything before. The amount of information spread so quickly was astonishing and impacted the outcome of that war.

Some people are against the idea that social media is helping us may argue that it is taking away from our communication skills. We now seem to be spending more time on our phones than we do with the people around us. However, this widespread use is actually helping not only our abilities to communicate, but also helping us have better conversations. Texting allows us to have more control over what we say and lets us have better conversations that are more meaningful.  Social media also makes us be more creative with our writing because while we try our best to convey message quickly, we also end up using more creative words to create these messages. Social Media is definitely improving our abilities to communicate and is leading us to better, faster, and more real conversations than ever before. Some people have not learned of the benefits yet, therefore it is our job to spread the news to others about how much better communication can be.