Social media influences our everyday lives by what we say, share, and do.

It comes as no surprise that high school students share a large percentage of their lives online. Everyone is connected to others by some sort of media whether that is Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook. So why do these apps have such an impact on student’s lives?

Social networking allows a free flow of information and public sharing on the internet. Starting in 2004, Facebook allows you to follow and become friends with anyone who is also on the app. With Facebook, people have the ability to add photos and share them, add personal information such as names, birthdays, class years, where they are from, and where they currently live. Facebook also allows a search by name so anyone can find you and your personal information, but cannot contact you unless a friend request was sent.

Six years after Facebook was created, Instagram became the new trend. Younger generations were now able to create a more confidential profile. Instagram would allow for people to make their account almost entirely private, in which everyone could make their own unique username, add a profile picture and have the option to give out your name. Instagram was more careful with privacy and what people wanted to share, whether that be photos or videos.

Only a year after Instagram was created, Snapchat became the new movement for teens to use. Snapchat originally allowed users to take and send a picture to their friends that was three seconds long. Throughout the years, Snapchat has added more features to their app such as sending videos, sending a picture for an infinite amount of time, trimming videos, sharing user’s locations with whomever they wish, creating their own avatar, and of course, the Snap Streaks. The Snap Streaks are when a user sends direct snaps back and forth with a friend for several consecutive days.

If people want to be trendy and up to date with the new social media apps, everyone has their own opinion on which is the best. According to Statista, Facebook is used more by people between the ages of 25 – 34 with approximately 58 million people using it, while people between the ages 13-24 use Instagram and Snapchat more.

In an Instagram poll I did, 35% of people prefer Instagram over Snapchat while 65% of people prefer Snapchat. Thirty-four people out of 83 said that they liked Facebook as well. After asking people of different ages, younger ages tended to like the newer apps, such as Instagram and Snapchat, while people of older ages said they prefered Facebook.

After seeing what Social media app others enjoy and prefer most, it’s clear that everyone has their own reasons for why that one is their favorite. Because of that, it influences everyone in a different way, whether that is sharing photos with people close to you or a group of more anonymous people. Either way, it’s difficult to get away from social media and its influence on our lives.