The current day of Social Media

SOCIAL MEDIA

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Social media has changed the world we live in. People are constantly uploading photos and updating their status to let their followers know whats new. People barely wait a minute before uploading their selfies or letting their followers know they just won an award, or even how they got hired to be a brand ambassador. Apple has a new update that let's you know how much screen time you've been using. Since quarantine and the stay at home order, I have been averaging 6 hours a day. 6 hours a day. It hit me how much time that is during the day to be starring at my phone, when I can be doing much more productive things.    

On a normal daily basis, my relationship with technology is healthy. Kids get phones at way earlier ages then they used to and are becoming obsessed with social media. Young kids are becoming obsessed with self image and want to become "Instagram models". I like using social media to stay in contact with family and friends, and post things that make me happy. Social media can become very unhealthy when people are trying to become something they are not. It is up the user to limit their time on social media, as well as defining social media on a scale of importance to them. 

The Washington Post states that  "overall screen time among young people hasn't changed much since 2015. On average, American 8-to-12-year-olds spent 4 hours and 44 minutes on screen media each day. And teens average 7 hours and 22 minutes — not including time spent using screens for school or homework." That is hours that could be put to learning a new trick on your bike, or spending quality time with family sitting by the fire. It's a scary thing to think that life is passing people by because their necks are too busy in their phones.

For me, social media is about posting my accomplishments, posting pictures of where I'm traveling too, and a lot of  pictures throughout my college journey. These posts excite me because my family and friends can see how I am doing, and my social media becomes like a scrap book for me. In years to come, I will be able to see my own personal growth, and how much I have changed over the years. I like to post what I am going to want to see, I'm not posting what other people want to see from me. I want to show people who I really am. How horrible would it be when I'm showing my kids pictures of me as a teen and I wasn't acting like myself.They wouldn't get an idea of the real me.

I'm the first one to be sitting on my phone while waiting for the airplane, or when I'm waiting for a class to start  - but theres a difference by being an active user and an obsessed user. I never like to compare my pictures or my life to others because people only post what they want you to see. There is no reason to thinking that your life is any less amazing than anyone else.

On the other ends of things, social media and technology are an excellent way to get out information. People always have their phones on them and news gets shared like wild fire. With technology, I have gotten a lot smarter and have learned things that I had no idea about. Social media is cool because things come your way and you find things that you had no idea that you'd even be  interested in. Of course there is always going to be "fake news", but that is up to us to detect. People need to look out for what is reliable and what is not. My last blog post has plenty of tips on ways to detect false information.

False things on the internet are becoming a lot more normal. For example, if someone tweeted that Justin Bieber was seen with another female did that not look like his spouse Hailey Bieber, you can quickly go to Instagram and see that he just posted a photo of them two together on the couch. When it was rumored that Kim Jong-un was dead, people were spreading that out all over the place. It was on every social media platform that I have. I, even for a second, thought he was dead. It wasn't until new pictures of him came out proving that he was in-fact, alive. 

Life is worth living and is worth experiencing through a set of eyes versus a phone lens. People really need to enjoy the moment. Capturing the moment is also okay... but it's the idea of capturing "the perfect moment"..... You do not always need to look perfect in your photos. It's the photos with the funny faces and happy laughs that you will look back on and say "that was a great day"... Social media is okay but don't let life pass you by because you’re too busy looking down at your phone.