Opinion

Opinion roundup: how growing up on social media affects social lives

PJ Lee • April 22, 2025

Students share their opinions on the effects of social media.

In the modern day, we are connected to each other very intimately through social media. In fact, as of February 2025, about 64% of the world population uses social media. It’s been so ingrained in our lives that we don’t give it a second thought when we scroll mindlessly for hours and hours. With this in mind, it’s important to see the impact that social media has on how we communicate with other people.

Students were asked how social media affects their relationships and lives.

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“It’s easier to maintain friendships, but it’s harder to maintain romantic relationships because there is less transparency. Communication via social media is less meaningful because of how easy it is to do. Additionally, another problem with communication via social media is that there’s so much pressure to reply fast. Furthermore, miscommunication is super easy because it’s harder to discern tone. Although social media makes it a lot easier to talk to people, the fact that in-person communication is difficult sometimes is what makes it more special and intrinsically more valuable.”

— Sophomore Skylar Callaghan

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“Social media helps me stay connected with others easily. With social media you can know a person without even meeting them. I try to only look at somebody’s social media after meeting them in person. This is so I can still get the experience of meeting somebody new without having the pretext of being familiar with their internet persona. I definitely think that it’s better to communicate in person rather than online but that is just too unrealistic. My entire generation was raised with social media and we’re prone to looking down on our screens than up at a stranger to start a conversation.”

— Senior Goria Jaimon

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“I find myself using it [(social media)] more now because it has been imperative in my lifestyle here to maintain a sense of closeness with my relationships back home. Even if I’ve already seen their online persona, I’m a really big believer in getting to know people outside of their social media. A person’s actual presence is incomparable to how they portray themself on a screen. However, one of my favorite parts about social media [is that] it makes language so fun the way it adds newness to how we communicate.”

— Paraprofessional Amazing Llanos

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About the Contributors

PJ Lee, Opinion Contributor

PJ Lee is a sophomore at Townsend Harris High School. He is a contributor in The Classic‘s opinion department.

Karen Lin, Photography Editor / Social Media Editor

Karen is a senior at Townsend Harris High School. Her passions include graphic design, photography, and fine arts. In her free time, she enjoys reading or capturing moments across her five cameras.