When looking at my personal online footprint I would say it is significantly large. I have been on social media since I was 13 and became active around the age of 15. I have used platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and Youtube for over 6 years of my life. Along with growing up as the internet and social media have been growing alongside me. I have a personal website that I have created for educational purposes, my blogger account. On this website I post assignments I have completed along with work that I am proud of keeping a portfolio in website form. Evolving with the media has caused me to create a large digital footprint myself over the years.
On a daily basis I use the platforms Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok, Youtube and Facebook. I have used these and check on them daily for as long as I can remember. I post on Instagram and facebook pictures of my friends and I and fun things we do. I also post on snapchat random things I do throughout my week I find entertaining or funny for my friends to see. I also use LinkedIn for a professional platform, to network and expand my connections. I have for as long as I can remember have updated these platforms, with age I update them less frequently yet I still do check and see what my friends post. I have never found a concern with my usage of social media as I did not create a toxic addiction to the platforms. I purely use them to check up on friends and family and post about my life to keep them updated. I could delete all my social media and not care because I have no connection to the validation social media gives others. I purely want to be kept in the loop of my personal friends and families lives along with keeping up to date with trends and news within the media.
I feel as if a visitor would glean across my profile I would seem like any other typical 21 year old woman. I post pictures of what my friends and I do along with some images of myself. I do not keep a theme on any of my platforms like others do as I post what I want when I want. I do not think most people portray their lives realistic through the media and I like to keep it real. No fancy filters or captions just me and my friends and whatever I am doing. I find it hard to watch people of my demographic crying and becoming upset if they don't get a certain amount of likes and or comments on their posts. This is the validation factor I mentioned previously, as this is what many have social media for. Creating a toxic relationship with the media is something I did not want to do and knew I could fall into that cycle easily as a teenager. Setting boundaries with myself within the media was essential.
I have given all my information to all my social media platforms and websites purely because I didn't think twice about it. I never thought anything of it when creating my accounts along with giving my email and number to companies. Those two things seem so impersonal to me from a broad perspective yet over time I have grown some concerns with doing so. My phone number can be traced, which I had no clue about before when I was 13 making my instagram account. Social media sites use this as a backup method when forgetting your username or passwords yet it is just a way of them getting more personal information about you. I wish I did not give my number to social media platforms along with companies I purchase from. Just by doing that I could decrease my digital footprint, yet once it is in the world it is out there, which is the scariest part of the media.
I do believe that social media can cause depression and make individuals feel lonely and or isolated. Some people's whole life is purely lived through media and only on media. You can create a very false illusion through the media and what you are posting, people could think you are the happiest person in the world yet you are hurting on the inside. People can isolate themselves from the world yet be such a big part of it through the media. Loneliness is also something that I feel many experience through social media as they are looking at pictures of others with their friends having fun while they could be scrolling alone on their couch. The issue of comparing yourself to others is very prominent in today's society especially when looking at social media platforms. I see the depression factor of the media coming from comments and words said about others from behind the screen. Anyone can say anything they want from behind their screen and not care about the person on the other side. There is a very toxic culture blowing through the media now and it needs to be changed. Yet the only way to do that would be through the mindset of the users.
No comments:
Post a Comment