Social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter are widely popular with users all over the world and used on a daily basis. It would be extremely rare to find a person unaware of these platforms today and they have become a core part of a majority of people’s daily lives.

Although people all over the world use social media, the ones that are most affected by it are teens. According to a survey by Pew Research Center, fully 95 percent of teens in America have access to a smartphone and 45 percent say they are online almost constantly.

With social media so widespread, the real question is whether its impact is positive or negative and to what extent.

Pew Research Center has also found in a survey that “A plurality of teens (45 percent) believe social media has neither positive nor negative effect on people their age. Meanwhile, roughly three-in-ten teens (31 percent) say social media has had a mostly positive impact, while 24 percent describe its effect as mostly negative.”

There are diverse views on what type of impact social media has on teens but it is undeniable that some sort of impact on teens exists.

“Teenagers don’t often get the experience to travel and see the world, so when it comes to living alone or going away to college without your parents the idea might seem a bit scary. I believe social media helps teenagers see the vaster world and keep their perspective wider, benefiting them,” said senior Qianman Wan.

Controversy on social media still exists, but it’s not going away so people should look towards how to overcome its negatives. According to a survey conducted by the Royal Society for Public Health, social media platforms such as Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram led to increased feelings of depression, etc…

“I think that the only reason social media holds a negative impact on teenagers is that of the emotional insecurity they possess. Some teens are sensitive about their appearances or are overly obsessed with social media to the point where it dictates whether they are happy or not that day based on how many compliments or likes they got,” said junior Daniel Lee.