The advancement of technology in today’s society has created many opportunities, but at what cost? Modern cell phones give us the ability to communicate with anyone anywhere in the world. Yet cell phones can also become portals for cyber bullying. Along with cell phones, social media’s intent is to connect people through pictures and posts. Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are all great for connecting but it too opens opportunities for cyber bullying. I have witnessed personally the detrimental effects of cell phones and social media. An experience so severe that my classmate had to attend court.

My sophomore year, a classmate of mine was talking to a girl over Snapchat. Snapchat allows you to send pictures to anyone and after a certain amount of time the photo disappears. Over time my classmate received explicit pictures of the girl he was talking to and saved them. Soon after he decided to show his friends and sent it around by texting and using Snapchat. Not long after the girl who, sent the photos found out, and quickly decided to take my classmate to court. When this happened, all the friends my classmate sent the pictures to were talked to by police and the parents of both were now involved. I remember hearing how angry, embarrassed, and disappointed the parents felt and hoping I would never be in that position. My school heard about what happened so they also took action by suspending him. My high school also held mandatory meetings in our multipurpose building with guest speakers and presentations. They gave us information about how pictures and posts stay on the internet forever. They also explained all the harsh consequences that happen if we engage in these actions.

All of these life altering repercussions occurred because of a poor choice and the wide networking cell phones and social media contain. Although social media and the use of cell phones can be beneficially used, it can also be neglected and be used to exploit others. When problems like this occur is it a human problem or a technology problem? Some can argue both sides but I believe this problem is a human one. Because technology makes things simple to do it is easy to blame technology. It is human nature to desire women, and also to partake in actions that can be deemed bad or inappropriate . The entire school learned a lesson of how not to use technology. I saw first hand the detrimental consequences that come when you misuse technology. This whole incident opened the eyes of not only me but also all my classmates who realized that cyber bullying or exposing others have real life consequences. Fortunately, weeks before court the two families met and discussed what happened. My classmate ended up personally apologizing to not only the girl but the entire family, and the girl’s family decided to drop the case and charges before the day of court.

Technologies influence on todays society has generated many useful opportunities. Yet with advancing technologies it opens new ways to impact peoples lives negatively. I have personally seen technology dismantle someones life and well being.