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Keller @ Large: Is Social Media Worth It For You?

BOSTON (CBS) - Let's face it, like it or not social media is here to stay. It's too convenient and addictive to be a flash in the pan. Many of you have probably already checked your Facebook page or Twitter feed as part of your normal routine, and that likely won't be the only time you check in during the day.

But lately it feels like many of us are reassessing social media, the way we use it, and whether or not the benefits outweigh the damage, succinctly summed up former President Barack Obama in a speech Tuesday.

"Social media, once seen as mechanism to promote knowledge and understanding and solidarity, has proved to be just as effective promoting hatred and paranoia and propaganda and conspiracy theories," he said.

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(Photo credit TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP/Getty Images)

And that raises a question I hope you will try to answer: is it worth it? Knowing what you do about the potential toxic effects of social media - the distraction, the disconnection, the trolling, the bullying, the spreading of lies and slander - is it something you see yourself using forever, or would you like to kick the social media habit?

I'd especially like to hear from people raising kids in the smartphone era. It's a great security blanket to give your kid a phone so they can reach you and you can track them. But how worried are you about the risks? And what, if anything, are you planning to do about it?

Share your thoughts and I'll include some of them in a future commentary. You can reach me by email at keller@wbztv.com, or use Twitter, @kelleratlarge.

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