Social media: Is it a blessing or a curse?

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In her piece, Emily Leedham laments the lasting impressions left by social media as she reflects on growing up in a connected world. An original version of this column was posted to her Facebook page.

I am really concerned about social media.

Some days I want to delete all my accounts and start over, but the Internet has always been a really important part of my life and it honestly feels like I will be erasing myself, my own history, if I do so.

I grew up an extreme fundamentalist and held some views that I definitely do not agree with today. I have always tried to be open about that, however, because that was a huge part of my life and has contributed to who I am in the present.

I didn't just wake up like this, it was a long arduous path. I was homeschooled throughout various points in my life. At one point, around ages 11 to 13, I basically had no friends except for some kids I knew online. We all were a bunch of weirdos, to be honest.

We got caught up in American nationalism after 9/11 (I wasn't American but yeah...). I read people like Rush Limbaugh and Mark Steyn and checked conservative blogs every day.

I even started my own blog where I wrote about politics and religion. It was a strange time in my life and it frustrates me to this day, but I also don't know what I would have done without those kids. They were my only friends.

Online friends

Circumstances like that have had an impact on me for the rest of my life. I still make friends online. I've worked out my thoughts and beliefs online and have come to very different conclusions about the world. Some of my closest friends today I met through Twitter or Tumblr.

To me, the online world has never been separate, but an extension of my reality. So it pains me to see that my own growing process, which has been such a positive thing for me, and much of which has happened online, could one day be used against me.

I am a human being. I use this medium to connect with other humans. I've shared my joys, my beliefs, and my sorrows and frustrations online since I was a child.

As I grow older, I feel like I have limited more of what I share, but it doesn't mean I want to erase a history when I shared more. What does this mean?

Will I delete my Facebook and Twitter one day because it's easier to do that than get people to grasp the concept of human growth and change? I don't know.

But I worry for myself and others who grew up online, that the very tool which helped us become who we are is now being held against us. I don't really know what the answer is.

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