A：每天有超过10亿人使用社交媒体与他人联系。人们在脸书、推特和照片墙上发照片：在优兔视频上给看过的视频点赞并分享这些视频；用微信、QQ和瓦次普这些聊天软件给朋友发消息。短短十年，社交媒体彻底改变了我们与人沟通的方式，让我们能与世界各地的人取得联系。但是社

A: More than one billion people connect with each other by using social media every day. People post pictures on websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They like and share videos that they have watched on YouTube and they send messages to friends using applications like WeChat, QQ and WhatsApp. In just ten years, social media has completely changed the way we communicate and it has enabled us to reach people around the world. But how does social media affect us?
B：其实，很多人都研究过这个问题，科学家们尤其关注社交媒体如何影响人们的情感和关系。一些研究表明过多使用社交媒体会造成情绪抑郁，其他研究表明社交媒体可能会给人们的各种关系带来负面影响。我们今天可以聊一聊社交媒体这把“双刃剑”。
A: I think the main positive effect of social media also echoes with its purpose: connection. Modern life can be very busy. Many people work long hours and live far away from families and friends. Today, many things separate people, which makes it quite difficult to stay connected with those who are important to us. A scientist wrote in a magazine that social media’s very fast rise is a loud and growing attempt by people everywhere to connect with each other.
B：你说得没错。社交媒体让我们结识了很多新朋友，而且这些朋友是我们通过其他渠道接触不到的人。比如说，你有一个非常与众不同的爱好，喜欢钻研土壤。在日常生活中，你往往接触不到跟你志同道合的人，但是有了社交媒体，你就很容易在全球范围内找到乐于研究土壤的人。
A: Exactly. Social media also helps people spread news about major world events. More often than not, we would hear people say that this would not have spread so widely without social media. But it can also harm people. According to a study published in the United States, the more people used Facebook, the less they were satisfied with their life, which could cause feelings of depression.
B：是因为我们在社交媒体上看到的都是别人“光鲜亮丽”的生活吗?我之前也读到一篇报道说人们刷微博之后最大的感受是“羡慕”，因为大家发到社交网络上的都是最好的一面，所以我们常常是用别人最完美的状态作为标准来衡量自己的生活，这种心理落差，长期积累下来而不及时疏导，就会导致抑郁甚至更消极的情绪。
A: I agree, the photos we saw on Instagram were just so perfect that our own life would be so meaningless by contrast.