It is no secret that social media has become both an amazing tool and a tremendous curse at the same time. People feel like they can dump their inner toxicity on the web as if they are screaming into a void, without a care as to who they hurt or affect with their words. But there is of course a reason as to why social media is so addictive. The shot of pure dopamine that goes directly into the brain when that thumb hits the send button on a post is unparalleled by most substances. It is addictive to everybody, including politicians.

Ever since a particular presidential election, social media has become an outlet apparently for them as well. President Donald Trump opened the floodgates as to what a politician, or in this case, the most important person on the planet, was capable of saying on the web, and more have followed suit since then. More recently, however, the heat has of course turned toward New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose new policies and ideas are a shot of fear into the arms of every old, baby-boomer politician who knows their way is done and they are on the way out. Just recently, she came under fire by several politicians about her use of the Facebook live stream feature to vent some personal frustrations. These are all relatable circumstances, especially given her stressful job, but at what point does it become too far? Is there even a limit left on how much one’s personal life is revealed to the world, particularly that of a high-ranking political official?

The unfortunate thing is that it is not just a case of one political party being crappy to another; it is simply yet another tool we as human beings abuse because it is an outlet for fun, and we as a society have always valued fun over everything else. In some aspects, that has led to some amazing things, but, when it comes to the leaders of our country using their own personal social media accounts as ways to express toxic viewpoints set to divide people, as well as to not use them in a productive way that signifies growth and change, that is a sign of bad times indeed