It seems now that social media runs the lives of so many people in today’s world.

Celebrities use it as a way to further promote themselves, businesses use it for advertising and kids are using it as a way to show how much better they are then the rest of their peers.

Posting pictures on Instagram or Facebook about your latest style or vacation that you happen to be on has become too much of a norm in today’s society.

Now there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with being proud of accomplishments or enjoying yourself, but it seems as though people have found a need to share everything about themselves through social media.

There’s a point in time when seeing every aspect of other people’s lives can become not only draining but can also lower our thoughts of ourselves.

Scrolling through news feeds on social media websites has proven to be detrimental to the health of users.

Recent studies have shown that social media can cause depression, anxiety, loneliness and lower self-esteem.

Reasoning behind this stems from the feelings people get when seeing other’s accomplishments and not thinking they have done anything remotely as worthy or exciting as the next person.

As a society, we need to be more aware of what we post and how we post and the way it can affect other people.

Posting photos or stories on Instagram every day of your vacation to Mexico or any other exotic destination may make a person feel a little better about themselves for being able to go on a trip like this but it in no way makes any one else feel better about themselves.

Besides, when someone is on a trip like that, there are probably better ways to enjoy the vacation than posting photos and videos on a phone.

However, as with many tools we have at our disposal, there are two sides to the coin that is social media.

The flipside of this is how these different platforms can also aid people in their lives.

Social media can be used as a way to reach out to people that need help.

Last month, Bell’s mental health initiative took social media by storm.

Facebook and Twitter were flooded with posts using the hash tag BellLetsTalk.

This initiative allowed people to openly share their stories and hardships freely.

By the end of the day, there were 145,442,699 interactions on social media, which raised $7,272,134.95 for mental health research.

Another positive from social media use is reaching a mass number of people as quickly as possible.

Social media has become a great tool for police services to take advantage of and post any notices the public may need to not only ensure safety but to ask for help as well.

During storms, fires or other tropical disasters, first responders are able to tell local residents the safest way to proceed and where they should go much quicker than they could in the past.

These are just a couple examples that show the opposite side of social media and are what the users should look at moving forward when it comes to their use of these different platforms.

Social media is a true double edges sword and users must be cautious of how they proceed when using it.