Social media has had both positive and negative influences on us, but overall, the positive effects by far win out over the negative effects. Social media has not only given us new ways to communicate over long distances, and share things with the whole world just by clicking a button, but it has also helped to gather and unite communities and individuals towards a shared goal, faster and easier than ever before, and has benefited the younger generation through the improvement of their writing.

Social media has aided in opening the door through which, we have been able to mingle with and talk to people no matter where they are. In Jennifer Cox's article, "I Knew You Before I Met You: How Social Media Has Changed The Way We Communicating" it says, "With the advent of social media, users now have the ability to connect based on shared interests rather than proximity." Instead of meeting people at the gym or at work, now, social media allows us to connect to people anywhere. While it may be true that social media is also making it easier for people to commit cyber-crimes, like identity theft, and stalking is easier, social media has also helped them keep up with the things going on around them. In "I Knew You Before I Met You: How Social Media Has Changed the Way We Communicate" Cox states that, "Social media was also credited for the political revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya in early 2011." Social media has helped many people share their stories, which have caught the public's eye, leading to a closer look at the oppression and murder going on behind closed doors. Social media has helped people free themselves from oppressive rulers, and has saved many lives.

Social media has also changed the world by assisting in bringing people together to support a common cause, faster than anything else has before. In one article, the author states, "Social media has the potential to unite neighbors for a common goal faster than any meeting or petition ever could." And this has been displayed many times. According to Jennifer Cox's article "I Knew You Before I Met You:How Social Media Has Changed the Way We Communicate", "Thanks to a Make-A-Wish social media campaign that went viral, approximately 12,000 people gathered to transform San Francisco into Gotham City for a day, helping make Miles' wish come true." Although some people say that social media has led to a decrease in productivity and in physical social engagements, social media also has the ability to bring people together for a common cause faster than anything else has before, just like the San Francisco Make-A-Wish social media event. This is just one of many beneficial effects that social media has had.

The strongest, most important effect that social media has had, is the productive influence on our writing skills. Today's generation have become much better writers than previous generations. Some people will point out that since the advent of social media, grammar scores have started noticeably decreasing. Though that may be true, Connie C. Eble, an UNC English professor, says, "today's students are actually much better writers than they were 30 years ago." Back then the younger generation often used correct grammar to write incoherent essays. If the point of communication is to clearly share information or thoughts, then the younger generation writing coherent, understandable pieces instead of incoherent, meaningless articles is, as a result, a huge improvement for our communication skills.

Though many argue that social media has had a debilitating effect on communication, the ability to communicate with people over long distances, the positive effects of being able to bring many people together for a common cause so quickly, and the huge improvement that younger generations have made in their writing and communication skills that so many believe to be waning, all add up to a positive influence far outweighing the negative effects. In the end, the effects of social media have only improved on our communication, and have also given us more ways, and faster more reliable ways to communicate with each other. Social media is beginning to become a part of life for us, and we should stop fighting about it and start focusing on the ways that it can help us even more.