"How you sustain a business model in which users don't pay for your service?" Senator Orrin Hatch asks. Facebook creator and founder, Mark Zuckerberg, responds with a slight smile "Senator, we have ads". This moment was by far the strangest and funniest moment in the congressional hearing in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. There were others, like Senator Roy Blunt, who didn't ask a question but made the comment about his son being an Instagram star and wanted him to mention that on the panel. While most find this funny (which I do), I also find this extremely disturbing. These members of Congress do not know how social media (or the internet, really) works, and in order for laws to be passed, they need to learn.

While social media can be a fantastic tool for many businesses and for people looking to connect with like minded people or even old friends, it can also cause a lot of harm. In the past few years a lot of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and SnapChat have gotten many people into trouble. This past election was a prime example of how much harm social media can it really do to people. Just to be clear, this post won't be talking about other people's voting preferences, but it will dive into the digital media tsunami that came afterwards.