Come to think of it, I can’t remember when it all began. Was it at age 7, when I spent hours watching Britney Spears YouTube Music Videos on my family’s Desktop? Was it when I got my first cell phone at the age of 13? Or when all of my interaction with humans and the world was limited to emoticons and “LOL’s” sent through MSN’s Instant Messenger? The truth is, I don’t really know when social media became a part of my life. Simultaneously, I don’t think I can remember my life without social media. It wasn’t as dominant as it is now, but it was always there.

Social media has been developing whilst I’ve been growing up and as it changes, I change too. I never thought that I would be using one website that congregates every single working professional in the entire word as I look for a job. Nor that as a journalist, I would turn to Twitter over the AP wires. Social Media became what it is now more or less in the last decade. That’s half my lifetime. It has always had a very significant influence in my life and it will continue to do so, especially given the professional path that I aspire to follow.

Alas, the question no one has an answer to, the debate that holds the top spot in the worldwide agenda: is social media good or bad? Is it helping or is it hurting? Well let’s talk about the latest social media app that seems to be taking over, Tinder.

I did not like it, mainly because I don’t agree with it. If we are to preserve anything that matters in this world, human relationships, human contact, then Tinder, I thought, was going to take all of that away. How can you replace the intimacy of meeting a person face-to-face with deciding whether you like someone or not based on their four most recent profile pictures on Facebook? So if there is a negative aspect of Social Media, this is it. It’s slowly eliminating human contact and face-to-face conversations and assembling every interaction on online platforms. This lack of intimacy, I don’t agree with.

But this is the only aspect of Social Media that I would complain about. Being an international student at Syracuse University often means living two lives; it means keeping up with friends in two countries, networking with professionals in two journalism industries, and at least two transatlantic trips every year.  Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, SnapChat, YouTube and so many other Social Media websites and apps have made my life so much easier, and my relationships with the people in my life so much stronger. My friends in Greece can keep up with my life when I am in school, on thanksgiving or spring break, while my American friends get a glimpse of what life is like in Greece every time I’m home. When I studied abroad in Hong Kong, I got the chance to stay in contact with both, by uploading photos, videos and updating statuses. I doubt that I would have been able to maintain so many of the relationships that I have in my life if it weren’t for social media. As the world enters deeper into the 21st century, and globalization keeps blurring continental and national boarders, the uncertainty of where life will take you only grows. I, for example, don’t know where I will be after college; in NYC with all my classmates, home in Greece, or back exploring Asia? I don’t know but what I do know is that regardless of where life takes me I will be able to stay in touch with the people who I want to stay in touch with. Knowing that social media will allow you to stay in touch with the people in your life, regardless of your location, is one of the best luxuries available to people in the 21st century.

I think the answer is subjective. Many, including my old-fashioned 50-year-old uncle who thinks Facebook is damaging my brian cells, may disagree with a lot that comes with the usage of Social Media. But I think that although it is changing the way relationships are formed, it is also helping preserve relationships and connect individuals.

The past 10 years I have built a very strong relationship with social media and I think that moving forward, this relationship will continue to develop and grow.