Although it was not every high school student’s favorite activity, watching the news was the easiest and quickest way to tune into what was going on around the world. However, since the rise of social media among both teenagers and adults, the tide has quickly changed. This rapid increase in social media’s role in carrying out the news has been very efficient in getting many more people to become aware of current events.

On Jan. 26, 1998, the entire Western world was buzzing with the latest scandal– President Bill Clinton’s affair with college student Monica Lewinsky. It was one of the first times that a major news story was spread on the Internet rather than heard on the radio, read in a newspaper or seen on the television. The Digital Revolution was just beginning, and who knew if the world was ready for it.

While major news outlets were being transferred to the Internet as early as the late nineties, social media websites have been around for just as long. Since the dawn of time, at least for a teenager, sites such as Xanga, Myspace and Facebook have dominated a student’s social life. However, it was only after a couple of years when social media went beyond just interacting with friends nearby and began incorporating other countries as well. For example, during its more formative years, the central theme of Facebook was connection. Its sign in page featured the slogan “Facebook helps you connect and share with people in your life” accompanied with a graphic of different people in different countries drawn together by dotted lines that represented the site. These days, however, communication with others in different parts of the globe is a given for social media. According to the site, there are about 288 million monthly active Twitter users. Seventy-seven percent of those users are located outside of the United States, and a whopping 9.9 million live in the United Kingdom alone. This means that people have the opportunity to share anything they want to the rest of the world within seconds, as long as it is within 140 characters.

The power to send any type of content to 288 million other people across the world at the will of one’s fingertips can be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, users can easily spread false information, as seen in many instances. One of the most notable and recent times an Internet hoax captured the attention of many was when entertainment news website Daily Buzz Live published an article announcing that President Barack Obama had signed an amendment lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. The rumor, spread like wildfire on social media outlets, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram within hours of being posted. However, to the misfortune of teenagers across the country, the news turned out to be a false alarm.

On the other hand, the pace at which news can circulate among the web through social media platforms helps spread awareness of the situation to both adults and teenagers. For example, the Ferguson case in 2014, which sparked immediate protest across the nation, even at Plano West, was enormously impacted by social media. Prosecutor Robert McCulloch noted the huge role played by social networks during the trial in a speech to the grand jury. Although he denounced the validity of news on social media, the fact is that social media brought awareness of the case to many people, old or young, around the world.

These days, teenagers are constantly criticized for the amount of time they spend on social media. Nevertheless, social media has recently begun to help people become aware of current events going on around the world. Therefore, while social media does take up an excessive amount of time, it can also be a positive part of our culture.