By now, we are all aware the impact of social media in our lives and in society. Social Media pages have revolutionized the way we connect and with other people. Social media has also turned normal people into celebrities.

“Alex from Target” experienced this. His life changed as he knew it within a few hours of the post that made him a social media sensation.

It was a normal work day for Alex as he started his shift at the Super Target where he worked when he noticed something odd. Throughout the day his line kept getting longer. What he didn’t realize was that he had become an internet sensation within just a few hours after someone took a photo of him and posted it to her Twitter page where it was then favorited and retweeted.

Considering that he has became so famous, you would think that you would see him more on television, but that’s not the case. He has in fact been asked to be on some morning TV shows but he has declined because he doesn’t want to feel the pressure of being a celebrity. He still wants to focus on being just an ordinary teenage boy.

But soon a meme was born and a hashtag was created. While Alex’s rise on the social media is a dream come true to most high school students, there is also negativity to becoming an instant web sensation. Many have taken to social media to call Alex names. Alex told Nick Bilton from Fashion and Style, “I’ve been in the house the entire time. I’m kind of scared to go out in public.”

The question many people have as a result of this and many other “viral content” situations is if social media’s impact on society is a positive or negative one.

Mr. Jurasas, part of the Social Studies department, shared his input saying, “Overall, I would say that the impact that social media has on society is positive. Certainly it can be used for negative things but overall it is very positive.”

He went on to say that “The most positive impact of social media is access to information. Information empowers people to make good decisions and more effectively organize, and as time goes on and people get more access to information the possibilities of improving things for people will just continue to grow.”

With access to information, people can coordinate their efforts to make sure that the people’s voices are heard and change can sometimes be a result of that.

Mrs. Claxton, Nazareth’s new Media Specialist, said that “social media connects in ways that we have never been connected before. It’s a cheap way to communicate once you have a device and you can reach a huge audience really fast.”

She gave an example of the Humans of New York blog post, and the boy who helped raised $1 million for his school just by an interview on the street and it being circulated over Twitter and Facebook.

Social media is a powerful thing and can be dangerous in anybody’s hand. As Brady Ryan, senior at Nazareth Academy, says “Social media is negative, but only for those who don’t know how to use it.” For example there are many people who are in love with social media and can say whatever they want on it, but as soon as they step out into the outside world, they freeze up and no longer can back up what they said on social media because they are afraid.

Overall, social media can be an easier way to express ideas and share content. That being said, people like “Alex from Target” recognize that sometimes too much social media exposure can be a challenge.