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Media, whether it be used for recreation, education, or entertainment, has great influence in our lives as students and teenagers. It can have positive and negative effects, as well as multiple usages from media to media. Instagram: Instagram is a photo and video sharing app, allowing you to connect with friends, brands, and online personalities. Many use the app for entertainment purposes, such as funny images or memes. Instagram has a direct messaging feature allowing you to connect with any user on the platform, via text or video chat. The app tends to be chock full of current events, allowing an easy way to digest news and other information happening around you. It also allows you to share pictures and videos via reels, stories, and posting. Though Instagram allows ease of communication and sharing, it can also quickly become sour. People may tend to overshare their personal lives, or the shield of a screen makes it easier to say harmful things that you wouldn’t in person. Spotify Spotify is a largely popular music streaming service, second only to Apple Music in 2019. You can save and download your favourite songs, as well as curate playlists to organize them in. Their algorithm can recommend music for you, allowing discovery of new songs and artists. Not only is the app just for music, they also house media like podcasts and digital shows. These can be educational, entertaining, and introspective. The app allows you to follow your friends, so you can see what music they’re listening to at the time and what playlists they’ve made. Unlike Apple Music you can use the app without a paid subscription, which can get expensive depending on your budget. Only downside is that ads will interrupt your music frequently while listening, and on mobile you cannot hand pick songs to play. Instead there is a shuffle feature for your playlists and like songs. Twitter Twitter is a thought-sharing platform, widely used to get your ideas across a large body of people. You can send your thoughts and ideas out in “tweets”, which are public for anyone to view. Many comedians and internet personalities use the app to entertain their audiences and make people laugh Twitter can also be used to keep up on news, current events, and what’s trending at the moment. Twitter unfortunately is also infamous for being quite toxic and biased. Words can be skewed, and rifts can get created between people due to different opinions. The anonymity also makes it easier for harmful things to be spread across the platform. Pinterest Pinterest is a photo discovery app used for sharing things like recipes, style inspiration, quotes, etc. Pinterest is often used to gather inspiration for many different aspects of life, like home decor, arts and crafts, cooking, etc. Teachers can use Pinterest for ideas in the classroom, like lessons or special projects or posters. Pinterest can also be entertaining, as many people post memes or comedy videos on the app. Reddit Reddit is a network of communities and people where you can delve into hobbies, shared interests, ask advice or questions, share ideas/thoughts/pictures and videos, etc. Reddit can be entertaining, with so many different groups of people sharing content its hard not to find something you’ll find interesting Most current events and news stories are reposted on Reddit, making it easy to be informed. The app also allows you to connect with people of shared ideas and interests. On a platform where everyone can speak their mind at all times, sometimes things like a simple disagreement turn drastic. However, Reddit is not owned by Google or Facebook, making them an independent subsidiary. Discord Discord is an instant messaging platform, widely used for connecting people, as well as video and voice chatting. The app allows users to connect to anyone in the world without pesky distance charges. Communication is also made easy, with texting, calling, and video-chatting features. Twitch Twitch is a live streaming platform where you can watch virtually anything as it happens in real time. Creators use the app to stream their work what’s happening live Users of the app can watch almost anything, from gaming to live lounge music. The app also allows users to gift and tip creators, which benefits people who use the app for work or income. Like most things, social media must be consumed in moderation. There are positives and negatives to any app or platform online. It’s important to set healthy boundaries with oneself for how often you use social media, how you behave online, and how you allow the things you consume to affect you. I personally have been trying to set a goal to use my phone for no longer than two hours in a day, and social media for no longer than an hour. It’s important to spend time on more productive and fulfilling hobbies to avoid get caught in the spiral of social media.