I am not that active on social media, however I do have Instagram. The reason that I have not joined other platforms is because Instagram sucks me in. I only check it about once a week (I know, blasphemy), but every time I log on, I end up spending over an hour just going through everything. Everyone has such nice pictures. Am I the only one who finds it slightly oppressing? I know that everyone only posts their best pictures or videos, but I always find myself comparing my life to whoever's feed I am looking at.
Sometimes, when I am on social media, I think of this french song music video called Carmen, where everyone has to carry around a bird that represents Twitter. The imagery is scary because at the end, all the birds, carrying their humans, jump into this giant bird (social media) that controls our lives.
Why do do use social media? I started because I made friends at a summer camp and wanted to stay in touch. Is it worth our time? I don't know. Sometimes, I feel like we should spend more time face to face, but then things like Covid get in the way of that (I guess we could meet mask to mask but that doesn't feel the same.)
Finally, will social media prevent us from making new friends at college? I know that this sounds like a crazy question, but social media allows us to hold onto connections, which makes forming new ones harder. My mom, an introvert, has told me that the only reason that she went out and made friends in college was because she had to if she wanted to have friends. We have the option of living our social lives on social media.
7 comments:
Hi, Renee! I definitely understand what you mean by getting sucked in. I also only have instagram, but it can definitely be addicting. Sometimes I WANT to get off, but I feel like I have to keep scrolling until I reach some post that will make me feel complete or happy (completely bizarre, right?). I started spending so much time on it that I decided to delete the app, but still keep my account online. This way, if I want to check my account, I have to spend the time logging in. It stands as a slight deterrent from just going to the app because it's easy and I'm bored. I also use the platform to keep in touch with people, but don't post super often. I try my best to not compare my life to others, because really, I think my life is pretty great (not to brag or anything). I'm happy and really wouldn't change anything about my life. When I see others happy, I'm just happy that they are also enjoying life. Life is so much nicer when you just appreciate what you have. It's great to improve aspects of your life, but I don't have the need to feel suffocated by it. I hope in college that making friends will be easy. Sometimes I get scared if I'm hanging out with people and they're all on their phones, and I feel like we aren't interacting with each other. However, I usually use Instagram as a distraction. I think in college they'll be so many opportunities to do new things and easily hang out with people in your dorm that I won't feel the need to go on Instagram (I may be completely wrong, though). Anyways, best of luck to us all!
I actually completely agree with this, Renee. I consider myself "active" online since I used Snapchat, Instagram, and Tiktok almost daily. Sometimes it can be a really good thing. For example, my life took a really dark turn starting last November and the one of the main ways I was able to remain semi-okay was by distracting myself with social media. Not the best way to do it and I have worked on my coping mechanisms since, but using them to talk to my friends did help in a sense; a small example of this was when I got my tonsils out and couldn't talk for 2 week but was able to talk to my friends through snapchat since it was faster than texting (most people aren't great at responding to texts and I am guilty of that). Another really good thing about social media is the activism I've seen through the various platforms. I learned so much about BLM, history, Indigenous rights, LGBTQ culture, etc. through Tiktok; it's a way for people to easily spread information or their own stories to a large platform which is beautiful to see. Even on instagram, I'm sure you've seen people posting on their stories about relevant social issues to spread information to the masses. Social media has a lot of downsides, don't get me wrong, but I think that's a couple of the amazing things I've seen from social media. As far as college goes, I like to think of it like I'm just switching to another school. I know you and Izzy have been here for most of your lives, but I haven't and had to leave a group of people that I considered to be the best friends I'll ever make behind. My class at Cahill really was family, and we thought we'd keep in contact but people change. I talk to a couple of people still who are always going to be constants in my life at this point, but for the most part, it was refreshing to move on to STM after spending 11 years at Cahill. At the time, I really didn't want to go and would have stayed if there was an option, but I'm glad I left because I was able to grow more; a lot of events at STM have shaped me into who I am today, and I like to think college will do the same thing. I'm a relatively introverted person myself, and find it hard to make friends because I usually run them off quickly, but I really think we'll be okay. I look forward to seeing how you guys grow once we get to college, since all of us are going to change. I have been taking more time off of Instagram, only going on to post this week and if someone sends me something, so I get where you're coming from.
(also, a note to the class, never compare yourself to the people online, it's a disaster waiting to happen and a trap I've fallen into too many times because most of the time it's all a front)
hi renee! I completely understand how you feel. For me, I find myself spending countless hours scrolling through pointless posts and I tend to never get anything out of it. I have a really bad habit of comparing myself to others on social media. Doing this typically causes me to go down a self-hate spiral and leaves me more upset than before I opened the app, yet I always seem to go back to it. I think that's the "sucking you in" aspect of it all. It's one of those things where you feel like you should look away, but it's as if you almost can't. In a lot of ways, I really like social media and the way it allows us to easily interact with the people in our lives. Like, I always get so excited seeing my friends posts or like pictures of Taylor Swift's cats:) However, I have found that it's not good for me (or my insecurities) to spend hours on social media a day, even though I would love to do that. I think for me it's just about knowing my limits. Like, I wholeheartedly thank Bella Hadid's instagram feed for giving me my sense of style, yet I also blame myself for naively believing someone's highlight real is their everyday life. With social media, it's as if you're given the power and you decide what to with it. You can use social media as a way to isolate and sadden yourself or you can use it as a way to interact and motivate yourself. It's truly up to you. I think that's one of the lesser evils of it all. As for college, I really hope it helps me rather than hurts me in the whole making friends process as I was really looking forward to bonding with someone over the outfits on their feed haha. I guess I'll just have to see about that one! Anyway, I just wanted to say that I completely understand where you're coming from and I've felt the exact same way scrolling aimlessly on social media. I think we're all just doing our best in navigating this world of likes and followers and I think we're doing a great job at the very least.
Hi Renee! I agree with you! Nowadays, the most dangerous social media app for me is TikTok. I spend so many hours just scrolling and watching these ridiculous short videos. The max for the videos are a minute long, but most of the ones on my feed are less than 15 seconds. Since I've developed this addiction to the app, I have such a small attention span for longer versions of entertainment. It's so bad. If I'm watching a movie or TV, I always end up on TikTok because I just don't feel like focusing on one thing for that long. There have been so many instances where I tell myself I'm going to delete the app because of how attached I am, but of course, I never do. In terms of how I think social media will affect me in college, I keep telling myself that I'm gonna use my time in college to sort of disconnect from social media and really just focus on face to face social skills. Obviously I can't guarantee that I'll actually disconnect, but I'm gonna try!
Hey Renee!! I used to thinks own thing similar, but then I changed my mind. I realized that when I followed a bunch of accounts that weren’t just my acquaintances, it was mainly positive feed. For example, I follow feminist, meme, satire, and body-positive accounts. All I do is share these with my friends.
I feel like Social media is really vague. For example, TikTok, even though it sucks you in, can be full of funny videos and positive messages. It’s all about the algorithm. You have to show it what you like and it will give you more of it. Showing your friends funny videos, new recipes you’ve found, and positive advice is really worth it. It’s all about understanding how to use social media, and showing it what you like. Yeah I may spend too much time on it, but it’s not like it’s cancer or anything lol.
*thing something similar
*****think something similar oml
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