Social media has its harmful sides and depending on how you use it, it can potentially be dangerous. Social media is new and dates to 1997 when a social forum called Six Degrees was popular up until 2003 when Myspace rose to popularity. Popular social media platforms now include Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc. They are used to communicate, share, and receive pictures and memories with family and friends. Social media can be fun, interesting, and entertaining, but it can also have a substantial impact on your mental health. Additionally, it could be dangerous if you use it in the wrong way. Social media can become a replacement for real-world human connections for some people. Some people can become addicted to social media which leads them to start to lose touch with the real world. Social media can affect people’s mental health, triggering hormones that alleviate stress and make you feel lonely, isolated- and exacerbate mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. multiple studies have found a strong link between heavy social media and an increased risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and even suicidal thoughts. social media platforms are designed to be addictive, and according to the Pew Research center, 69% of adults and 81% of teens in the U.S. use social media. judging by statistics a large amount of the U.S population are at risk of obtaining or gaining anxiety, depression, and even physical illnesses, such as developing rounded shoulders, spinal curvatures, vertebrate disorders, and associated neck pain and headaches caused by ailments. social media apps can be dangerous in other ways too. With a lot of these apps, you can communicate with people around the world. There are many stories and cases about people going online, talking to strangers, and giving them personal information, and then something bad happens because of them making that choice and doing that. On some apps people have found ways to track other people’s location just by a simple post. There are so many ways to find out different things throw social media, that is why you should not share private or valuable information to yourself and offline. To sum this up, social media can be a fun place to interact with family and friends, but it can also be extremely dangerous, and anyone should be careful with the information they share with people online.