Social media has become an almost essential part of teens’ daily life. Whether on Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok, their phones keep them connected at all times.
Growing up will never be the same as it was before in 1997 when Six Degrees, the first social media platform, was invented.
Social media today has become like a real-world yearbook.
Posts can be made at any time, with any pictures presented to the world. Social media became a collection of people’s daily lives. However, in some ways, communication has not changed that much.
“Growing up then was not much different than now, except there was a lot more communication face to face. If we didn’t make plans before that, I used to get home from school and call my friends,” Poway High receptionist Sandy Fraser said. Instead of being in a pocket, that phone was attached to a wall.
“When I was growing up, I usually met people outside of my school through extracurriculars like sports or through church,” Spanish teacher Amy Rewa said. However, it was still rare to know more than a handful of people from a few counties away.
Six Degrees was a simple interface that allowed users to upload personal information and make new friends.
When the feature to add strangers on more mainstream social pages like Facebook was created in 2011, kids were able to make friends from anywhere.
Kids today are able to break the boundaries around location and expand their circle of friends.
Even if you only know someone’s name, a single search can bring up images from their personal life.
“Eventually, yes, we always meet up in person. But nothing ever stays online. I stalked one of my coworker’s Instagram pages to get her vibe before I met her,” senior Audrey Walton said.
While people without social media sometimes get left behind, it isn’t the end of the world to not know what’s happening digitally.
“I like being able to live free and authentically without feeling the need to record everything,” senior Boston Pankretz said. Although he had to work a little harder to be in the loop, it didn’t stop him from making the best out of his high school years.
Communicating with friends and family today is instantaneous, making it easy to keep in touch with family or friends who live far away.
“I can see and comment on experiences that the people I love are enjoying, making me feel like I can be there for a moment with them, even when I am miles away,” senior Parker Jackson said.
Although social media changed the way teenagers interact today, the basis of making friends and conversing with one another has not changed.
