My view toward social media has not altered much at all; I think of it the exact same as I did in high school. I believe it is a good way to stay connected with your friends and family that you often don't have the opportunity to see, therefore having much more importance when you are away from home, like all of us are now. Outside of simply texting, I find it quite entertaining and cool to see all my friend's posts, pictures, tweets, etc., seeing what they are up to in life.
Although I personally see social media as recreational, I am not fond of the idea of people using it for their personal gain or when it's taken much too seriously. Shown through my friends and many acquaintances, I notice that the amount of likes, favorites, re-tweets or whatever it may be that they receive holds a lot of importance to them. I’ll easily admit that it feels good and fulfilling to receive them, but it shouldn’t be the sole concept of social media to motivate someone to use it, for it fully lacks the purpose of using it in the first place (for fun) and instead makes it some sort of competition to see who receives the most likes on a post/picture. I mostly see this through my dad, who ALWAYS posts pictures of me on Facebook; after sometime, he’ll come up to me saying: “Look how many likes I got Tyler!”
On top of the competitive use of social media, it can be exceedingly addictive! When I’m with my friends, I occasionally notice that every one of us, including me, is on their phone. Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, twitter or even Google + (seriously), it shouldn’t distract you from your interaction with others and especially from living your life. It’s something I would guess the majority of us can work on, especially me, for I had a twitter tab open throughout writing this.