Social Media: What It’s Great For and What It’s Not So Great For

How to make the most of social media—and avoid letting it replace important things.

Photo illustrations by Getty Images

Great for …

• Quickly inviting people to a spontaneous hot-dog roast.

• Knowing generally what’s up in your friends’ lives.

• Quick-and-easy access to a massive think tank whenever you want to kick your mac ’n cheese up a notch or need help brainstorming awesome FHE activities.

• Showing everyone your awesome nunchaku skills (or juggling skills or singing skills or baking skills …).

• Staying connected with faraway family and friends (and finally be able to remember all your little cousins’ names).

• Meeting people you never would have encountered in person and meeting new friends with similar interests.

• Spreading some kindness(like posting or commenting with compliments).

• Seeing photos of awesome stuff (like delicious-looking brownies).

• Cat videos. ’Nuff said.

Not-so-great for …

• Really seeing the complete picture of what’s going on in people’s lives.

• Replacing face-to-face conversations.

• Finding an actual shoulder to cry on.

• Going on a date.

• A safe place to go super deep in a conversation.

• Detecting someone’s tone of voice.

• Reading the emotions on someone’s face.

• Actually eating a brownie.

• Going bowling or swimming or walking in the park, watching your high school team play, attending a theater, or feeling the weather.