Edward's Social Media Survivors Guide. LJ1

 Hello Everyone!

So since this is the first learning journal that we are doing together as a class, I am so glad that we can share our personal viewpoints on social media. This is one of my favorite topics to discuss with friends because I have really close friends who are "obsessive" over social media and I love to counter argue the pros and cons of social media.

    I am going to start with my opinion on how everyone should operate on social media. In the textbook we read about how social media has studies showing support of deteriorating mental health amongst users. This is because of the overuse of Social Media causes a sense of detachment amongst these users. This is my first big "do not" of social media. Overuse. Overuse is the main cause of why people begin to experience anxiety symptoms. I try to not overuse social media in my daily life but I also believe that it is very useful marketing tool not only for companies but for yourself. Another example from the textbook was Lili Basse using social media to be transparent with her campaign to be an elected official. She also stated the same pros and cons that I did. (Lipschultz 55) When I first began social media I was very young and I used to post any kind of picture at all, I was looking for engagement from my friends from school. I posted pictures too often as well. Now I am more strategic with my posts, I like to post major things in my life. For instance, taking a trip somewhere, birthday, anniversary, etc. I wish I would have done this back then because I spent so much time on social media trying to be very engaging with everyone to get the same effort back. There was a big trend of "Follow for Follow" or "like for like" which was a big thing to increase, what I like to call, "fake followers" or "psuedonumbers." These weren't true engagements because of your production, this was more of a quantity game. Now in the present, I do not care about the numbers. I post what I want to post and when I want to post. I try to treat myself like a brand for a company because I want the best version of myself displayed on the internet because you never know the opportunity you can acquire/lose because of it. 

    I feel that social media, just like anything in life, is useful if used right. I believe it is ok to self express on social media as long as it is something you are ok with everyone seeing. I personally do not like when people like to classify social media as a way to connect with friends. I believe they are only half-right. Certain social medias such as Twitter and Instagram are public places like parks, malls, etc. Snapchat could be used like a public social media but most communications are one to one and you have the option to change your stories to public. Snapchat by default will only show your stories to friends you have mutually agreed to be friends with. I see no problems with Selfies and other images because it is just a form of self expression. I do think it does have negative affects as it leads to some cyberbullying or psychological need for engagement expectations when posting these images. A rule of thumb for posting social media pictures for me, is not caring how much people "like, favorite, tweet. etc." I like to just keep it simple and post and the engagement comes with it. The picture or form of media needs to be something I am ok with my grandma or a future job employer pull up in the middle of an interview. I do not like when people compare themselves to others on social media because it is just a surface level picture, you do not know how much effort had went into the picture. It is known for many people to photoshop and alter images of themselves when comparing themselves to other people. In my opinion that is not ok and needs to be socially taught that it is ok to post how you look, becuase the less people that care about others appearances, the less people will make a huge deal of it. No one should quit social media, it is the future of the world and we use it so much that is become primary form of communications. I believe it just needs to be taught in households at an early age how to conduct yourself on social media. More parents should be aware of their kids social media pages to eliminate bad habits that lead into the future.