While social media can be seen as negative, junior Chaley Spaulding uses it as a way to send out positive messages. Spaulding uses TikTok as a way to share her life experiences while also advocating for mental health.

“Personally, I use social media to connect with others around me. I started posting videos about a year and a half ago in Jan. 2022 right after my birthday. I used to post little videos of my day every day, but now I just post every once in a while and I’m trying to start posting daily again,” Spaulding said. “I was inspired to make videos because I thought it would be a fun way to document my life while also connecting with others.”

While Spaulding posts about her life, she also has her friends star in her videos as well. Junior Kaitlyn Burke is in many of Spaulding’s videos and feels like the videos influenced those around them.

“I absolutely think Chaley’s videos influence others to use social media in a positive way,” Burke said. “I think that she posts things that are fun and enjoyable which can encourage others to do the same.”

Thanks to her account, Spaulding has been able to connect with people while also communicating about the importance of mental health.

“One thing I try and do is use my platform as much as I can to advocate for mental health. I’ve gotten numerous texts from friends and people that I’m not even super close with to tell me how much my mental health videos have helped them or someone they know,” Spaulding said. “For this reason, I think social media is super important and can be a big part in changing the world in the way it helps people understand they aren’t alone.”

Overall, Burke thinks that social media is a great way to spread awareness.

“I think social media shares many different people’s viewpoints and allows for a more rapid spread of valuable information that could’ve been possible in the past,” Burke said. “It has also allowed people to speak out about controversial topics while also spreading appreciation for other topics.” 

Amidst the news of the world, students such as senior Sophie Sena, use social media platforms to spread awareness on topics they feel passionate about. Sena uses Instagram to spread LGBTQ awarness.

“I think that especially recently with all of the transgender bans as well as drag bans I think that it’s a really important issue right now,” Sena said. “I think that there’s a lot of LGBTQ issues that are under attack right now and I think that this is something that we should be talking about.”

Before reposting information, Sena does her own research in order to limit the spread of misinformation.

“Normally I make sure before I post something that I see on my feed, I really only follow a few people that I consider to be trustworthy and even though I see them to be trustworthy I always look up the information they’re posting about, because I don’t want to repost something that’s untrue,” Sena said. “Then I’ll usually post it, especially if I believe that the information is important or that people might want to know about it.”

According to Sena, social media has also aided in providing certain facts pertaining to the LGBTQ community that isn’t shown in mainstream news. 

“With social media, there’s a lot of things that you can find out that maybe the news isn’t really covering,” Sena said. “I’ve seen a lot of stuff on social media and I’ll look it up and then I’ll be able to find more information about it, but you never really see this kind of stuff being shown on television.”

Overall, Sena believes that social media has helped normalize being a part of the LGBTQ community. 

“I think that it’s definitely helped raise awareness for a lot of the issues, certain things come to light on social media that aren’t always talked about in the news,” Sena said. “It does a good job in normalizing being in the LGBTQ community and that’s really important since I feel that a lot of people struggle to feel secure about themselves and online may be the only place where they feel that they have a community.”

Like many other students who advocate for change, junior Jules Tracy uses social media as a platform to speak out about her cause. With the help of Instagram, Tracy promotes body positivity and self love. 

“I have always struggled with body positivity and it makes me feel better trying to help people fight it together,” Tracy said. “We are all human and amazing in our own ways and I really want to show people that they are no matter what their brain says they are perfect in their own way.”

Tracy reposts positive messages on her stories to that mention body positivity. 

“The more people post about it the better people will feel because they will know its a collective feeling and they know they are not alone,” Tracy said. “I think there are many benefits to posting about it I think it shows that you truly believe something.”

Tracy shares about why she uses Instagram to voice her opinions.

“I like using social media as a way to voice my opinions and sharing how I feel on certain subjects,” Tracy said. “It is a way for me to talk about topics I am passionate about.”

Overall, Tracy believes that social media is a way to educate people. 

“I think social media has its positive and negatives but I think it is definitely important to our generation,” Tracy said. “It helps inform people and bring people together on common beliefs.”

Not only are students the only ones using social media for good, but many clubs use social media to create a positive light surrounding their organization. One club doing this is JLC. Senior social media manager Amiaya Manirad has seen how JLC’s usage of social media has impacted the student body. 

“We try to raise awareness for the groups of people who aren’t recognized as much as other groups, which I think is one of the most important things that we do,” Manirad said. “It’s definitely been positive and everyone in JLC is setting a good example.” 

JLC sponsor and counselor Erin Hayes has been able to see the positive effects of social media both through JLC’s actions and students she interacts with. 

“I have students who also just do the funny stuff. Like cat memes, cute dogs or even the feel good stuff,” Hayes said. “I think that that’s important too, just being able to follow some good news. I think more kids are doing that since it’s uplifting and silly.” 

According to Manirad, JLC has also been able to inform the student body in addition to promoting other clubs throughout the school by using their various social media platforms.  

“We like to appreciate all of the things going on in the school. We talk about sports, activities, achievements in the school and different ranges of things happening,” Manirad said. “It allows us to teach people about things they may not know about.” 

Overall, Hayes has appreciated being able to see the positive side of social media.

“It’s been interesting to see and watch students use social media for good stuff. It’s not anything I would have thought of since I don’t usually partake in social media, but it has been fun to follow and see,” Hayes said. “I’ve been able to learn a lot about social media through students and it’s made me see that it’s not all bad.”