Our world is more connected than ever before. But do social media and other technologies actually isolate us from others?

The newer generations are now facing a problem that was inexistent to the youth of only decades ago. I am talking about social media and the constant access to internet, as well as the expectation of being available and approachable every hour of the day (and night for that matter). Social media itself would probably not be classified as a problem, since the possibilities it creates and the conections it makes are nearly endless. It becomes a problem when we look closer to the darker side that comes with it.

Teenagers nowdays are much more likely to suffer from anxiety and/or depression than ever before. When the bigger part of the social life moved into the phone, life suddenly became a competition. A competition about who has the best body or the funniest social life filled with friends, parties, and what on the outside seems like happiness. About who takes the prettiest notes, has the best grades and about who is the healthiest and the most mindful. Wherever you look, there are people that are better than you, and they show it. You have to put up a facade in order to still be in the game, to still matter, still have people acknowledging your existens.

And what happens when you don't live up to the expectations? What happens when the world online sees how you unsuccessfully struggle to fit in? A world in which everyone can be anonymous and no one can trace the evidens back to the offender, when the crime wasn’t bigger than telling a self conscious teenager they are ugly and therefore less worthy to live?

Social media creates possibilities. It makes the constant competition, cyber bullying and the anonymous hate spreading more possible than ever before. It shows you in black and white how many "friends" you have, or don’t have. But there is more than that, the dark side of it is not the whole story. Social media can bring people together, and make it easier for people to reconect or keep in contact with each other. It can educate, and show us how the world is more than just what’s outside our window. People find others like themselves, with similar interests, experiences or goals. If you are lonley you can get support from those who are or have been in a similar situation. It can also give the minority groups a voice, and shows us that we are just as strong as we are united.

And social media unites us.